For All the Days of Our Lives
by LanieSullivan
Summary: After two years of the secret marriage, Lee and Amanda are finally ready to come clean only to be separated by tragedy.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. We retain rights to the plot, but not the characters. this story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

Timeline: Takes place during the summer of 1989 after the removal of the Hungarian Border fence that eventually led to German Reunification in 1990. Lee and Amanda have been married for over two years at this point and still kept it a secret.

Author's Note: This is a re-post of a story that I wrote over 15 years ago that I never completed. It was posted under my original pen name, Lanie Sparks, which I no longer have access to so I am unable to update it under that name. I've consolidated the original seven chapters that I had posted into four to make the chapter lengths a little more even and have started working on the completion of the story. I hope to have it completed within the next week or so.

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Lee Stetson was at his apartment on his way out the door when the phone rang. He debated on whether or not to answer it. He looked at his watch. He was supposed to be at Amanda's in half an hour. He'd been looking forward to it all week. He hadn't gotten to spend much time with his family lately because of his and Amanda's heavy case load, but they'd finally gotten some good leads and wrapped some stuff up so now was the time for quality time together. After more than two years of living apart, he and his wife were finally done with the secrecy and had decided to come clean about the whole thing tonight at dinner. _Oh well_, he thought. _I might as well answer is and get it over with._

Lee slammed the phone down a few minutes later. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Damn! I should've just let that damned phone ring! What am I going to tell Amanda?"

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At the King house, Amanda and Dotty were in the kitchen fixing dinner when Phillip and Jamie came thundering down the stairs.

"When's Lee getting here, Mom?" Jamie asked impatiently. "I want to show him my new video game."

"It's hard to tell, Sweetheart." Amanda replied. "He probably got hung up at work or something. _I hope there's nothing wrong,_ she thought. She knew The Agency well enough to know that something simple could easily turn into something life-threatening in a matter of minutes. "Why don't you boys go get washed up for dinner? It'll be ready in a few minutes."

"Ok." they both said as they ran toward the bathroom just as the phone rang. Dotty picked it up,

"Hello?" she said in her usual cheerful tone.

"Hi, Dotty," Lee said.

"Lee, darling, where are you?" Amanda perked up when she heard that Lee was on the phone. "Your fan club is here waiting for you."

"I'll explain it later, Can I talk to Amanda, please?"

"Of course." She handed the phone to her daughter.

"Lee, what's going on? You're late," Amanda said worriedly.

"I don't have much time to talk."

"Where are you," she asked getting more worried by the minute.

"At the airport. I have to fly to Berlin in less than an hour."

Amanda had a million questions. She rattled them all off at once. "Why? What's going on? Why didn't you tell me about it? How long are you going to be gone? Do you want me to go with you? What can I do to help? Do you need me? We're supposed to be partners, remember?"

"Amanda, I promise, I'll explain it all when I get back. This just came up. I shouldn't be gone more than a day or two."

"What about our plans for tonight?" Tonight was the night they'd panned to tell the truth about their secret life. She'd wanted to for so long and they'd finally agreed to start living like a normal couple but they couldn't do that if he wasn't going to be around.

"I'm sorry, Amanda. There's nothing I can do. We'll take care of it this weekend, I promise. I have to go soon if I'm going to catch my plane

"Please be careful."

"I will. Take care of yourself and the boys and I'll see you all in a couple of days. I love you."

"I love you too." She said with a sigh as she hung up the phone. Dotty immediately picked up on her daughter's distress.

"He's not coming tonight, is he?"

"No. He has to fly out of the country right away on business."

"What kind of business can he conduct at this time of day?"

"I don't know, Mother. He didn't have a whole lot of time to talk. He had to get on a plane."

"You and your jet-setting men, I swear."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amanda said turning to her mother.

"Well, you were married to Joe for ten years and all he did was travel all over leaving you alone with the boys. Now, you're a successful career woman, but you're still falling into the same trap. You're involved with a man who isn't ready to settle down yet and just wants to traipse all over the globe. I think Lee is a wonderful man, but he's obviously afraid of commitment. You read about it all the time."

"What? Mother, you're talking nonsense. Lee is committed to me and to the boys."

"Then why hasn't he asked you to marry him yet? You've been dating for how long now?"

"Over 2 years," she answered, but really that wasn't true. They'd been married for over two year and had actually started dating over three years ago.

"See? I think it's been far too long. and tonight he just takes off at the drop of a hat without giving you any kind of notice."

"Mother, what's this all about? I thought you liked Lee."

"I do. He's good to you and he's good-looking, charming, polite and he adores the boys. I know that the two of you have this fiery, passionate relationship, but is that really what you need?"

"Mother, what are you talking about?"

"Don't even try to deny it, Amanda. I know that the two of you have been sleeping together for years, before I ever even met him, so don't think I believe your story that it's only been two years.. You think I can't put two and two together? The men's clothing items that keep appearing mysteriously in our laundry, the endless long nights that the two of you "work" together, the number of times that I've come home to find the two of you looking guilty. It all adds up to one thing and don't think the boys haven't figured it out either. They are teenagers, after all."

"Ok, so what?"Amanda said. "We're both adults and we love each other."

"I've never doubted that the two of you are in love. I could tell that from the first time I met him. No, I take that back. I knew even before I met him by the way you used to talk about him, but that doesn't make me feel any better when he just takes off like this out of the blue or the fact that you two still don't seem to be heading toward a real future together."

Amanda heard the boys heading back down the stairs. "Look, Mother, why don't we talk about this later? I don't really want to discuss this in front of the boys. We can talk about this some more after they go to bed."

"All right, Dear. I'm going to hold you to that."

Amanda nodded her head, knowing that was true. "Ok, there are some things I need to tell you in private. Things you should have known about a long time ago."

Later that evening after the boys had gone to bed, Amanda had been true to her word and told her mother everything. She sat silently staring at Dotty and wondering what was going on in her head. She had to know what she thought. "Mother, aren't you going to say anything?"

"What do you want me to say, Amanda? You tell me this wild story about you and Lee eloping two years ago. Then you tell me that you two are spies. And I'm just supposed to accept this? The next thing you'll be telling me is that that sweet old lady, Emily Farnsworth is a spy too."

"Um...she is." Amanda replied.

Dotty laughed. "Amanda, this is just too much. You always did have a vivid imagination, but this is going too far."

"Mother, I'm serious. There have been spies in and out of this house for the past six years. More than you even know about."

"Well, now I know all about Mr. Melrose."

"Mr. Melrose is our supervisor. I've been working for him since 1983."

"Oh, Amanda, this is priceless. I love it!" She laughed. "Imagine you working for a man like that."

Amanda shook her head. After six years, she was finally trying to tell her the truth and she didn't believe her. "Mother, you have to believe me. This is not a joke. It's serious. I really am a spy. Why do you think I have to take off so suddenly on business. terrorists don't work nine to five. They strike whenever it's most inconvenient for the rest of the world."

Dotty was laughing so hard, her face was red. "Terrorists, Amanda? This is too funny. Oh, wait a minute, I know. This is for one of your documentaries, isn't it? You're doing something on comedy routines, right? Or some kind of hidden camera thing?"

"Mother, I wish you'd take me seriously. This is important. I'm not a filmmaker, Lee's not a filmmaker. We never have been. Lee is on mission that could possibly get him killed. You don't understand. Every time he goes away without me, I worry constantly that he may not come back without having me there as backup."

"Backup? I think you've been watching too many of those crime shows on TV. I have to hand it to you, Amanda. You've certainly been entertaining this evening." Dotty stood up and started for the stairs. Amanda rose to stop her.

"Mother, wait." _Oh, forget it_, she thought. _There's no convincing her._

"Yes, Dear?" She turned to face Amanda.

"Nothing. Good night, Mother.

"Good night, Love." She kissed her daughter and headed up the stairs.

Amanda sighed and flopped down on the couch. She didn't know how to convince her mother of the truth. She had to do it somehow. Keeping these secrets had been tearing her up inside. Her thoughts turned to her husband as she absently fingered the chain around her neck that held her rings. Why hadn't she thought to show them to her mother? Her mind was racing between her mother's disbelief and worrying about Lee. She was wondering where Lee was now and if he was ok. She drifted off to sleep on the couch dreaming about her husband.

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Lee was agitated and apprehensive. He stood outside what looked like an abandoned building. _This can't be right_, he thought. He'd been in some seedy looking places, but this was crazy. He knew something was going on, but was unsure of what. He looked back to his rental car and the agent who called him in the first place to let him know that the contact would only meet with him because of his previous work in West Germany. He didn't have all the details. He only knew it had something to do with a rebellion against the proposed reunification of Germany, a rebellion that had already been causing trouble in the streets of Berlin on both sides of the wall. From what he'd heard, there were many people who were quite happy with the way things had been for decades and wanted to keep it that way. He knew these people would do anything to stop reunification.

He glanced at his watch still set to DC time. 6AM at home and once he got done with what he needed to do, he would still have an eleven hour flight back home. He sighed when he realized this wasn't going to be as simple as he thought. He'd been hoping to meet his contact, get the information he needed and get back on a plane so he could be with his family again. He felt he was letting the boys down. He didn't want to be like their father who had missed countless events in their lives. Even though they didn't yet know that he was their stepfather, Lee had made a promise to himself when he married Amanda that he wouldn't be like that with them, but The Agency wasn't making it easy. He sighed and opened the door. He didn't have time to even react when the blast hit him and all he saw was black.


	2. Chapter 2

Amanda was standing in the middle of an empty street. She didn't know where she was. She watched as Lee got out of a rental car that another mane was still sitting in and made his way toward a building that looked abandoned. She had a sense that there was something wrong. She tried to call out a warning, but when her mouth opened nothing came out. She tried to run toward him, but she felt as if she were a million miles away and moving through quicksand. She watched him open the door and felt the heat from the blast as she watched her husband's body go flying across the street.

Amanda awoke with a start screaming Lee's name. Something was wrong, she knew it. Dotty came running down the stairs to find her daughter trembling and soaked in sweat.

"Amanda, Darling, what's wrong? You were screaming."

"Oh, Mother, I just had the most horrible nightmare. Lee was meeting a contact and there was an explosion and..." she broke down, sobbing. Dotty hugged her tightly.

"Amanda, it was just a dream, nothing more. I'm sure Lee is fine. You've got to get a hold of yourself. You've let this little fantasy of yours go too far. It's not healthy. Maybe you should go see Dr. Mitchell."

"I don't need a shrink, "She protested. "I need to know that Lee's ok."

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's ok. Why don't you go up to bed? It's only 6AM and you were up pretty late. Getting a little more sleep will make you feel better. And don't worry about Lee. If something was wrong, he'd call you, right?"

"Right." she said. _If he was able to_. she thought. _No, don't think that way_. Her mother was right. She needed more sleep. She was sure she'd hear from Lee later today. He always checked in. Besides he'd only been off the plane for two hours. What could have happened in that time, she tried to reassure herself.

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Billy was standing outside Amanda's front door with Francine by his side. He was dreading this. He was probably the only one who knew how Lee and Amanda truly felt about each other, how in love they were. He knew the news he was about to tell her would devastate her. He'd hoped that he'd never have to deliver this news to either one of them. He looked to Francine for support.

Francine tried to give him an encouraging smile, but she knew she was failing miserably. She knew this was going to be hard on him, but she also knew it couldn't be put off. "Billy, one of us has to ring that doorbell."

"I know, but..."

"Look, We both know how strong Amanda is, Billy. We know this is going to be hard on her. It's hard on all of us, but if anyone can get through this, it's Amanda."

"Yes, I know how strong she is, but with all that she's been through in her life, this may be the one thing that pushes her over the edge. One person's strength can only hold out so long."

"I know." She said. She knew that Billy and Lee had been close friends. She also considered herself to be one of his friends. This was as hard for her as it was for him. She decided she might as well be the one to make the first move. She pushed the doorbell, silently praying that this was one of the days that Amanda would be at one of her boys' ball games so she wouldn't have to face her. The door was opened by Dotty. Billy and Francine both flashed their badges.

"Mr. Melrose, what are you doing here?" Dotty said worriedly at seeing him on her doorstep again.

"Good morning, Mrs. West. This is my assistant, Francine Desmond. We need to speak to Amanda."

"What's this about?"she asked warily.

"May we come in, please? It's a rather urgent matter." She opened the door enough for them to pass staring at both of them as they entered. Dotty was curious now. What did this man want with her daughter now? Wasn't it bad enough that he'd treated her like a common criminal three years ago? "What do you want with Amanda?" Her thoughts were going crazy. Maybe Amanda had been telling the truth last night. No. that was crazy, Her daughter being a spy? It was just to nuts to imagine.

"There's something very important we have to talk to her about. I'd rather talk to Amanda about this first, if you don't mind.

Dotty sighed finding herself once again annoyed by the man's evasiveness. "Hold on, she's in the back yard with the boys. I'll get her." She headed for the back door. "Amanda?" she called. "Mr. Melrose is here to see you."

Amanda's face dropped. Billy never came to the house unless he knew for a fact that she'd be there alone. Her worst fears were racing through her mind. She knew that her nightmare wasn't just a nightmare. She quickly ran past her mother. Dotty and the boys followed, curious about why a spy had shown up at their house yet again. "Billy, what is it? What's happened to Lee? Where is he? Is he ok?" She had to know what had happened to her husband.

"Amanda, I think you should sit down." Phillip and Jamie exchanged confused looks. Why were Mr. Melrose and their mom calling each other by their first names?

"I don't want to sit down! I want to know what happened to Lee! Obviously something had or the two of you wouldn't be here. You know better than to come here when my family's around." She glanced at Francine and could tell by the traces of smudged mascara that she'd been crying and had hastily tried to re-apply her make-up.

"Amanda, there was an explosion. Two, actually. One at an abandoned building in Berlin, one in Lee's rental car and Lee...well...He..." He couldn't do it. He couldn't break Amanda's heart.

"Damn it, Billy! Tell me." The whole room was shocked. Amanda didn't swear very often, but when she did, the whole world better look out. Francine could see Billy was struggling and knew she had to intervene.

"Amanda, I don't want to have to be the one to break it to you, but Lee...um..." she paused as tears once again welled up in her eyes, "...Lee didn't make it. The blast from the bomb was so intense he was killed instantly."

"No!" Amanda cried. "NO!" At hearing the news that her husband was dead, Amanda felt as if the room were spinning. Billy was too late to catch her before she hit the floor.

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Amanda was walking through a dense fog. She knew Lee was here somewhere. She kept hearing him calling for her. She had to find him. Every time she caught a glimpse of him, the thickness of the fog swallowed him back up again. "Amanda!" he called over and over again.

"Lee!" she cried out as he disappeared time and time again.

"Amanda!"

"Lee!"

"Amanda!" Billy cried as he shook Amanda to wake her. He was deeply concerned. He knew that this would be hard for her to face. Amanda slowly opened her eyes. She saw her family and Billy and Francine standing over her. She looked at Billy and realized who had really been calling her name. She sat up. She then hung her head as she remembered what she'd just been told.

"Is it true?" She managed to croak out. "Is he really...dead?" She could hardly say the word.

Billy nodded slowly. "I'm afraid so, Amanda."

Dotty went to Amanda's side knowing she'd need comfort. "Oh, Darling. I'm so sorry." She cried as she held her daughter. Amanda just clung to her and sobbed.

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In a hospital in Berlin, two doctors were standing outside a hospital room, conferring while looking at a patient's file.

"Dr. Wright, since you're an American, I thought you might be interested in this. This man was brought in with another man. There was an explosion. The other man was standing next to a rental car outside the building. The police said it looked like he was trying to get into the car when the bomb went off. He was killed instantly. It looked like he was a spy of some kind. They found an ID in the car. They've already notified his superiors."

"What about this other man?" Dr. Wright asked as in he looked in at the unconscious man.

"We don't have any clue to his identity. We've been through his wallet. We found his driver's license, but the plastic coating on it is somewhat melted so that makes it hard to see. The only writing on it we can make out is part of the address. That tells us that he lives in Washington, DC."

"Hmmm..." This was crazy. They were finally on the brink of peace in Germany and for some reason, some people didn't want it. This rebellion had claimed so many lives already. How many more would it take? And what about this man here? If the dead man had been a spy, how did this John Doe fit in to the equation. Better to let the police figure that one out. But he still would at least like to know the man's name. "There was nothing else in his wallet?" Dr. Wright asked.

The other doctor shook his head. "Not that's any kind of help. We've got some charred photographs, but they won't help us until he regains consciousness and can tell us who they are."

"It looks like that won't be too long. Look!" He pointed to the man they'd been talking about. He was stirring slightly.

"Well, I need to get going. My family's waiting for me. I'll leave him in your hands." Dr. Wright nodded as he watched his colleague walk away. He turned and walked into the room. The man appeared to be having a dream. He was murmuring something.

Dr. Wright looked at the photographs in his hands. The first one was of a pretty brown-haired woman, she was wearing a black dress with pearl buttons and spaghetti straps. She also had on a silly party hat. He guessed it was from a New Year's Eve party. She looked like she was happy, but also nervous at the same time. The next picture was of two teenage boys, both with light brown hair, and an older blond woman. The younger one was wearing glasses and looking self-conscious. The older boy looked smug as if he knew it all. The woman in the picture looked as if she were just trying to keep the two boys from killing each other long enough to get the picture taken. Both the boys and the older woman bore a resemblance to the woman in the other picture.

Of course, these were only his impressions. The reality could be quite different, but he didn't think he was too far off. He'd been many places, traveling all over the world, going wherever his assistance was needed. He'd learned a lot about people. He was a person who could often tell what another person was thinking just by looking at their facial expressions. The last picture was of the brown-haired woman again. This time, the man lying in the bed in front of him was with her. They were facing each other. He was wearing a dark gray suit with a blue tie. She had on a white skirt and blouse with a matching jacket. They were both smiling as big as life hands clasped and the woman was wearing what looked like a shiny new wedding band. He supposed that this was wedding photo though the man wasn't wearing a ring.

He turned all the pictures over. It looked like there had been dates on all of them, but he could only make out the date on the one of the couple. Feb. 13, 1987. Two years ago. He turned the picture back over. His thoughts were interrupted by the patient. His murmurings were growing louder. The doctor could almost make out a name. He moved closer to the bed, straining to hear. The patient tossed his head from side to side. "Amanda!" He cried out.

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	3. Chapter 3

Dr. Wright was still staring at the pictures in his hands while his patient still rambled in his sleep. He knew that it wouldn't be too long before he woke up.

"Amanda, Amanda!" he cried over and over again. His eyes suddenly flew open. Dr Wright rushed to his side watching his patient's every move as he tried to help him sit up.

"Easy." He said. "Don't try to move too much. You've sustained some bad injuries."

"Where am I?" Lee was confused. "Where's Amanda?" He was frantic. He had to know where she was.

"Who's Amanda?"

Lee searched for the answer to that question and shook his head. "I don't know," He said sadly.

"You don't know who she is?" Dr. Wright was intrigued.

"No," Lee said sadly. "I just have this name in my head. I know I have to find her."

"Is she your wife?" the doctor probed.

"I already told you I don't know." Lee snapped in frustration, annoyed that this memory was just out of reach.

"Let me ask you a question then, do you know who you are?"

Lee searched his memory banks for any clue of his identity. Finding none, he slowly shook his head.

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When Amanda finally let go of her mother, Phillip and Jamie took their turn to comfort her. Amanda hugged them tightly to her. While this was going on, Dotty took Billy's attention away from them and led him into the kitchen. Francine followed.

"Look, I want a straight answer out of you." Dotty demanded angrily. "Amanda told me a far-fetched story last night about her and her boyfriend working for you."

Francine raised a curious eyebrow at the word "boyfriend" being used to describe Lee.

"Now, I want to know, is it true?" Dotty continued. "Is that why he's dead now? Is that why my daughter's going through hell?"

Billy swallowed hard. He could only nod. This was killing him too. He'd not only lost a damn fine agent, but he'd lost the best friend he'd ever had as well.

"I see. And what is she supposed to tell those boys? They've finally learned to trust another man after the way their father deserted them and now he's been taken from them too."

Francine felt the need to jump to Billy's defense. "Mrs. West, You have to understand. Lee had a bad habit of going off on his own not knowing what he was getting into, many times without backup." Billy had no idea what was going on. He didn't even know Lee had gone to Berlin until he got that phone call early this morning."

Amanda pulled away from the boys. She wiped the tears from her face. "I'm ok, Fellas. Why don't you go outside and get your baseball stuff out of the backyard and put it away? Will you do that for me?"

"Are you sure you're ok, Mom?" Jamie asked, unsure of whether he should leave her alone at a time like this.

Amanda put on her bravest face. The same one she always used on Lee when they were in trouble. "Yes, I'm sure. I'm fine. Now, scoot." She watched them go, then walked into the kitchen to talk to Billy. "I want this case, Billy."

Billy looked at her, stunned. "Amanda..."

"I mean it, Billy. I want this case. I have to know what happened."

"Amanda, you know I can't let you do that. Standard agency policy when your partner is killed is to take at least two weeks off."

"Well, I don't care what The Agency's policy is!" Amanda snapped. "I want this case and if you don't give it to me, I'll book myself on a flight to Berlin and find out what happened on my own."

Francine looked at her as if she's lost her mind. "Amanda, you can't be serious. You can't go over there alone. Look what happened to Lee when he went alone."

"I can and I will. I learned everything I know from Lee, remember?" She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. The last thing she needed was to appear hysterical in front of them. "Billy, I'm going to do this with or without your help, but it would be a lot easier if you'd give me permission to do the investigating."

Billy was sympathetic, but he didn't think Amanda was thinking clearly. "Amanda, I really think that's a bad idea. You need some time off to..."

"To do what?" She interrupted bitterly. "To sit around the house and think about how much I miss him? To retrace everything we ever did together and wonder why it had to end? Billy, that would be the worst kind of torture you could put me through."

Francine tried to back Billy up. "Amanda, I know from personal experience what it's like to lose a partner. I've been there. I know what you're going through." She placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

Amanda shrugged her off angrily. "No, you don't. You can't possibly know what I'm going through!" She shouted just as Phillip and Jamie walked in the back door. "Lee was more than just my partner. He was my husband."

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Phillip and Jamie looked at each other not knowing what to say. Was their mom serious? Was Lee really her husband? That would make him their stepdad. And what did Mr. Melrose have to do with all this? Amanda went over to her boys and hugged them both. She knew they must have a lot of questions.

Francine stared openmouthed at Amanda, not quite believing what she'd just heard. How could this be? Lee was never the marrying type. Amanda wasn't thinking very clearly because of her grief. Francine herself knew the feelings that came with losing a partner. She knew that when she lost her partner, she'd felt tremendous guilt as well as grief at the loss of a friend. Now, she'd just lost another good friend. It dawned on her that had to be what Amanda was feeling. She knew that Lee and Amanda had once dated, but that it hadn't worked out. That had to be it. It had to be something she just made up to compensate for guilt feelings about breaking up with Lee. Now she knew she would never have a second chance with him. But then again, why would she make up a story like that? Thinking about all of this was giving her a headache.

Billy decided he had to be the one to break the silence. "Amanda, if you're really sure you can handle this case, it's yours." He'd been trying to protect her, but her announcement had made him realize that it would only be more dangerous for her if he tried to keep her off the case. He knew now that she wouldn't rest until her husband's killer was brought to justice. He'd have to fight Dr. Smyth, but he'd back Amanda up whatever the cost.

"Thank you, Sir. If you don't mind, I'd like to have some time with my family."

"Of course. Francine...?" She merely stood there, not knowing what to say. She couldn't even come up with one of her famous one-liners. She was too stunned to move. "Francine." Billy said again. She snapped out of it, shook her head and followed him out the door.

After they were gone, Amanda told her mother and her children that it was time for a family meeting. She sat down on the couch with Phillip on one side of her and Jamie on the other. Dotty sat in chair opposite them. Amanda tried to compose herself, but she couldn't stop thinking about Lee. If only she'd gone with him, maybe he'd still be alive. _No_ she thought. _Don't do this to yourself. You have to be strong._

"Ok, Fellas. I know this is a shock to you and I didn't want you to find out this way, but Lee and I did get married back in February of 1987. We were planning on telling you last night after dinner, but Lee wasn't able to make it. We felt it was time that you knew the truth. We hated keeping this secret from you all this time, but there was a very good reason for it. Lee and I work for Mr. Melrose. We're both federal agents."

"You mean you're spies?" Phillip said, excitedly.

"You could put it that way. The thing is we tried to keep you out of harm's way by not telling you. There are a lot of dangerous people out there that might try to use you to settle a score with Lee or me. We didn't want that to happen to you. I know you must be angry with me and I'm sorry, but I can't take it back and change it. All I can do is tell you that I love and that I won't ever lie to you in the future. I need your love and support more than anything right now. You both know how much I loved Lee. With him...gone...Well...It's going to be rough on me for a while, especially at the office where we spent so much time together..." Amanda's voice trailed off. She couldn't continue. Her tears starting flowing again.

Dotty rushed to her daughter and hugged her and just let her cry. After a while, her sobs abated and she looked at her mother. Dotty took her hands in hers and said, "I know how hard this must be for you. I really wish you'd reconsider Mr. Melrose's offer and take some time off. You need to have time to heal."

"No, Mother. Don't you see? I have to know who took my husband from me."

"Amanda, I felt the same way when your daddy died, but..."

"Yes, well, there was nothing you could do about it, but there _is_ something I can do." She said with a determined nod of her head. "I can find the people who did this and make sure they're brought to justice. Lee and I have been partners for six years. I have to know why his life is over."

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Lee certainly felt as if his life were over. He had no recollection of who he was and no way to find out either. The doctor had told him that they'd determined that he lived in DC, but that's it. He had to know more. He couldn't handle not knowing anything about himself. All he knew was that he lived in DC and that there was a woman named Amanda in his life, but he didn't know who she was. He tried to get out of bed, but Dr. Wright stopped him. Lee fell weakly back on to the bed.

"Just let me out of here," Lee said in frustration. "I hate hospitals."

_"_You're not in any condition to go anywhere." Wright explained.

"But I have to get back to DC. I have to know who I am."

"All in good time. When you've healed enough, You'll go back to DC. I'll take you there myself."

"You?" Lee was confused. "Why would you do that?"

"That's my job. I work for a group called the Emergency Aid Organization. I travel to different places all over the world. I go wherever I'm needed. I came here because of all the rioting that's been going on over reunification."

Lee's head was spinning. "Rioting? Reunification? What was going on? Whereexactly am I?" He asked the doctor weakly.

"You're in Berlin."

"Berlin? As in Germany?"

"Yes. West Germany to be more specific, but that will soon change if the groups opposed to it don't get their way. What I'm wondering is why were you in the middle of one of the riot zones?"

Lee shook his head. He had no idea what was going on. Why was he there? He searched his blank mind and couldn't come up with an answer. He just kept getting flashes of that dream with that brown-haired woman. "Amanda..." He said softly as he drifted back off the sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Lee awoke with a start. He'd been having another nightmare. He shook his head hard. Who was Amanda? In his dreams he was sure he knew who she was, but when he woke up, she was gone again. He knew that she was someone important to him, but that was all. He glanced at his bare left hand. He wasn't wearing a wedding ring, so that was a good sign that she wasn't his wife, but who was she? What exactly was her importance to him? He could make himself crazy with these questions. All he knew about his life was that he lived in Washington, DC and that someone in his life was named Amanda and that she was a big part of his life. At least he thought she was. Why else would she appear in all his dreams? He got up. He had to find out the answers. He started opening drawers and cabinets looking for his clothes. He had to get out of there. He crossed the room to another cabinet and stopped short when he felt a sharp pain go through his head. He shook it off and continued on his mission just as Dr. Wright walked in.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" He exclaimed at the sight of his patient. "You shouldn't be up and around yet!"

"I have to get out of here! I have to know about my life!"

"I understand how you feel, but..."

"No, you don't understand, I have to get out of here now! This is making me crazy!"

"I can't let you do this!"

"Look, either you let me out of here now, or I'll just walk out, with or without you. I'm not going to stay here any longer! I want to go home!"

Dr. Wright threw up his hands in frustration. "All right, you win. I'll have you released this afternoon and make travel arrangements for tomorrow. But you have to agree to keep up with your medical treatment."

Lee nodded. "Ok."

"But for now, I want you to get some rest. We're going to be very busy in the next couple of days and I don't want you having a relapse."

Lee nodded. Dr. Wright started to leave. "Hey, Doc." Lee said.

Wright turned around "Yes?"

"Thanks."

"Mm-hmmm. Now get some rest."

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Meanwhile, at a different hospital in Berlin, Billy and Amanda are talking to the doctor that turned Lee's case over to Doctor Wright.

"I'm so sorry about your agent that was killed. There was nothing we could do. He was already dead when they brought him in."

Amanda bit her lip, trying very hard not to break down again. "I want to identify the body." She said.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. I don't think that's a very good idea. The explosion tore him up pretty badly."

Amanda was not discouraged. "I don't care. I want to identify the body!"

Billy looked at her. "Amanda, I don't think you should..."

"Don't give me that. I have to know for sure, Billy." Billy knew that determined look on Amanda's face. He'd seen it many times before. He sighed and nodded for the doctor to show them the body.

"Ok." the doctor said, still unsure. "Follow me. Billy and Amanda followed the doctor through corridor after corridor until they reached the morgue. They walked into the room and the doctor walked over to a table with a body covered by a sheet. "I warn you, it's not pretty." "

"Please just show me the body," Amanda persisted.

"If you insist." He pulled back the sheet. Amanda looked at the mangled corpse in front of her and couldn't help but imagine Lee's face in place of the badly burned one. She turned and immediately lost the contents of her stomach onto the floor. She felt incredibly weak. She held onto the table for support. Billy came up behind her and helped her. The doctor hastily covered the body back up.

"I'm ok, Billy." she said.

"Come on. Let's go outside." He led her to a chair in the corridor. The doctor pick up and envelope and followed.

"This is what we found in the rental car he was driving." He handed it to Billy, not sure Amanda was able to handle it. He opened it and shook out the contents. In it was what was left of Lee's badge and a plain gold wedding band. Amanda picked up the ring and examined it. She knew it was Lee's. He had a habit of carrying it with him when they were apart on cases. He always told her it made him feel closer to her. She started sobbing, crying on Billy's shoulder, knowing now that her husband really was gone forever. Billy put an arm around her to comfort her and just let her cry until she couldn't cry anymore.

The doctor fidgeted not knowing what to do. He was young and hadn't had much experience with this kind of thing.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the day this man was brought in?" Billy asked.

"There was another man brought in who was still alive. His case was turned over to Dr. Wright. He's in a small clinic north of here."

"I'd like to talk to this other man if possible." He hoped this other person could help them at least figure out why Lee had been in West Berlin without letting anyone at The Agency know. "Can you give us the address, please?"

"Sure. I'll go get that for you." He said, eager to get away from this hysterical woman.

Billy turned his attention back to Amanda. "Are you ok to continue?" Amanda could only nod. "Ok, let's go find out why this happened."

Billy was constantly glancing over at Amanda to make sure she was all right as they walked into the clinic together. He was worried about her. She'd picked up too many of Lee's habits. She was determined to search for the answers that she would probably never find.

Amanda was thinking about the time that she and Lee first talked about keeping their marriage a secret. The words he'd said to her kept ringing through her ears. "That could be you one day talking to strangers about your dead husband, trying to unravel the truth about his death, knowing you'll never find it." She had always known that it could happen, but now that that day had arrived, she couldn't believe it.

She smiled slightly as she remembered his enthusiasm only a few days before that when he had been planning their future. All his plans and dreams were gone. There would never be softball games in the back yard or two cats and a front porch swing.

Billy and Amanda approached the front desk in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. The attendant looked up and asked, "May I help you?"

Billy flashed his badge. "We're interested in a patient that was transferred here from another hospital late Tuesday night. Possibly a John Doe. The physician was a Dr. Wright."

"Oh. Yes. I remember. He was involved in an explosion in one of the hot spots. He was released just about an hour ago."

"He's gone?"

"Damn! I was hoping to talk to him about the bombing. Do you have any idea where he was heading when he left here?"

"No. He left with Dr. Wright."

Amanda was getting irritated. She wanted to know what had happened to Lee. "Do you know where we could find this Dr Wright?" she demanded impatiently.

"No, I'm sorry. He's a guest here. Sort of a loan-out from the EAO. He's only here a few times a year. He travels so much, it's impossible to tell where he'll turn up next. I know the patient that was here needed a lot of attention so he'll probably be spending a lot of time with him."

"But you don't know where?"

She shook her head. "None of the EAO doctors are required to report to us. Once the patients leave our clinic and are released into the care of outside physicians, we don't know what happens to them. I can tell you the patient was an American and that he had at least partial memory loss due to the head trauma he suffered during the explosion."

"Great!" Billy said. "I don't suppose you'd know where this explosion actually occurred, do you?"

"No, I don't, but I can tell you who does." She wrote down a name and address on a piece of paper. "This is the man who's in charge of the investigation. Maybe he can help you."

"Thanks for your cooperation." Billy and Amanda headed out the door both feeling a little frustrated.

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Billy and Amanda weren't the only frustrated ones. Lee couldn't stop pacing back and forth in the hotel room the doctor had been staying in. He was deeply annoyed at himself for not being able to remember any of his life. He didn't even know if he had any family that might be missing him now. All he had were the pictures that had been found in his wallet and half of a driver's license. What kind of life was he going to have now when he didn't even know who he was or where he came from? He pulled out the pictures again and stared at the one of himself and the brunette woman holding hands. _Amanda, _he thought but that was it. Why could he remember her name and nothing else? They way that they were smiling at each other in this picture, they obviously meant something to one another. Why couldn't he remember?

Dr. Wright watched him with growing restlessness. He knew that this man was going to have a rough road ahead of him He just hoped that he would hang on and see it through. He'd had patients in his situation in the past who just decided to give up without a fight. He was pleased to see that that didn't seem to be the case with his new patient. He was a fighter, he could see that already. He just hoped it would be enough.

"Hey, listen. I've got a flight booked for us this afternoon to take us back to the states. We should land at Dulles around 8PM DC time and I've already got my colleagues at the EAO setting up a facility for your care and our legal department working on trying to figure out who you are, try to make sense of the partial address and the like so we can notify your next of kin of what's happened to you. For now though you should get some rest. You're still recovering from a nasty head wound."

"Yeah," he said lying down still gazing at the photograph. He fell asleep with that picture in his mind.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.


	5. Chapter 5

Lee awoke breathing heavily. For the first time since he'd regained consciousness, it wasn't due to a nightmare. This last dream was different. He shifted and found the pants he was wearing felt painfully tight. This time he wasn't dreaming of Amanda being in a car with a gaping bullet wound in her chest. He found the picture he'd been looking at before falling asleep trying to reconcile it in his mind with the dream he'd just had. _Or was it a dream, _he thought. He couldn't shake the feeling that it was a memory, not a dream.

He glanced at the photo of the two smiling faces then closed his eyes to recapture the images from his dream. There she was again, this while wearing the ivory suit in the photo. He was holding her hands as he heard a voice say, "Lee Stetson and Amanda King, I am pleased to pronounce you man and wife." They had just gazed at each other for a moment before an older woman in the room with them reminded them they were supposed to kiss. And they did kiss. Boy, did they kiss. They wrapped their arms around each other and kissed like there was no tomorrow. That image faded into another image. They were stealing another kiss only this time it was in what looked like a hotel room. This kiss was interrupted though by a different older woman bustling around the room. _Get the hell out! Who cares about making the bed? We're just gonna mess it up again anyway! Whoa! Where had that thought come from? _He thought his eyes snapping open.

He tried to focus once again on the images from his dream. The housekeeping woman had finally left and he'd taken Amanda in his arms kissing her passionately to the point that she'd said, "Wow," he pulled her tightly against him to which a tiny gasp had escaped her lips, "Oh." The rest was a blur of sensation, undressing each other, touching, exploring, kissing. No wonder he'd woken up uncomfortable. He'd been dreaming of making love to her. At one point in the dream, he'd called her Mrs. Stetson. He was still confused though. If she was his wife, why wasn't she there with him? Why wasn't he wearing a wedding ring like he had been in the dream? He flipped the photograph over and looked at the date on the back, February 13, 1987. Over two years ago.

He forced his mind to go back to what the man had called him when pronouncing them man and wife. _Lee Stetson. Is that who I am? _Confusion still swamped his tortured mind. He couldn't quite associate that name with himself. There were too many other memories fighting for control. Another wedding ceremony with the same woman, Amanda, in which he'd been called Lee Stetsman and she was wearing a proper wedding dress with a veil which he'd lifted over her head before kissing her. This one was a gentler kiss that the other one, though he got the distinct impression he hadn't wanted it to end. In fact, when she reached up with her fingers to wipe away her lipstick from his lips, he'd even kissed her fingers.

He felt more confused than ever. Why two wedding ceremonies and with two different names? He searched his mind for anything else that would give him a clue. If the first wedding he'd thought of had been more than two years ago, surely he'd have other memories of them together, sharing a home, doing things together that married couples do. An image of them in a house full of people came to mind. A man was calling them Mr. and Mrs. Morton. _What the hell? _More images of the two of them together floated through his mind. "Big Tony. I'm Jeffery Roth. This is my wife..."

"Dixie," she'd introduced herself with a southern lilt. She had her arm linked through his and he recalled just smiling at her as she babbled on about art.

This image faded into another one. "We're Steadman and Keane of the law firm, Steadman and Keane." Then another, "Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Peterson to See Mr. Robison." And yet another, "I'm Lee Stimpson. This is my sister, Amanda..."

"Amanda Keane, married once, cured forever," she'd awkwardly joked.

All these images and names didn't make sense and why was there just one memory of them introducing themselves as brother and sister? Clearly if the first memory had been accurate, they were most definitely _not_ brother and sister. Maybe the first one wasn't real, but it had certainly felt real. He tried to re-capture that image. He glanced again at the photograph and conjured up that image in his mind. He'd been kissing her, dropping that white suit jacket off her shoulders and onto the floor while she'd done the same with the dark jacket he was wearing before loosening his tie. No, he had to believe that was a real memory. It was too vivid not to be. He could practically taste her lips under his, smell the intoxicating scent of her perfume, feel her lithe body pressed against his but then where had all these others come from?

"Who the hell am I?" he said out loud.

"The million dollar question," Dr. Wright said as he entered the room. "I was just coming to check on you. It's about time to get ready for our trip back to DC."

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"Amanda, this is pointless," Billy was arguing with the stubborn woman yet again as they approached the remnants of the ruined rental car.

"Maybe to you," Amanda said. "But I have to see it for myself."

"Amanda, we have bomb techs already going over every inch of the scene and the rental car. I don't know what more you think that you can do."

"Aren't you the one who was always saying that I sometimes spot things that other people don't?"she countered unwilling to be deterred. "You used to use that line on Lee back in the early days of our partnership when he was reluctant to work with me."

Billy sighed in resignation. He knew that he would have no choice but to let her continue investigating and he might as well help her. If he didn't, she'd just do it on her own, then she could find herself in the same trouble Lee had gotten into and he'd have lost two agents. He showed his badge to the techs that were examining the car. "Any luck determining the source of the bomb?"

"Yeah," the tech nearest him said, "Based on the placement of it and type of explosives used, we're pretty sure it ties back into the group known as Red Dawn, a radical offshoot of the Socialist Unity Party. This looks like their M.O. two bombs in two different locations only a few feet apart making it virtually impossible to escape."

"Two bombs?" Amanda questioned.

"Yeah, one in the car and one inside the building that was rigged to go off as soon as they door was opened. It appears that someone was watching to see when the one in the building went off because the one in the car was set off seconds later by remote control. Your man inside the car never had a chance."

Amanda took a deep breath, struggling to keep her composure at the tech's words."This doesn't make any sense," Amanda said to Billy. "Why would Lee be in the car? You know he's not exactly the wait-in-the-car type. It's more likely that he'd be the one approaching the building. Maybe the dead man in the morgue isn't Lee, but whoever it was that called him in the first place. Maybe the guy with amnesia is Lee and that's why he has contacted anyone."

"I get what you're saying, Amanda," Billy said his heart breaking for her. "And we're getting the body shipped back to DC to compare dental records to make a positive ID, but I don't want you to get your hopes up. The badge they found on the dead man was Lee's and you yourself identified his wedding ring, also found on him."

"Actually, they weren't," the tech interrupted. "They were found in the console of the car. We just assumed that they belonged to the victim in the car because what agent would leave his badge in the car?"

"Well, technically his badge would be useless here if he were here on his own and not on an approved assignment with the cooperation of the German government," Amanda pointed out her logical mind working overtime. "That would be one explanation."

"Amanda, you're reaching," Billy said. "And I get it. I want Lee to be alive too, but this wishful thinking, giving yourself false hope is only going to hurt you more in the long run. I think you need to just accept that Lee is gone."

"This isn't just wishful thinking, Billy. You've always said that I have good instincts and my instincts are telling me that something doesn't add up right. Who was Lee with? Who called him in the first place? You already said that you had no idea what he was here for, that this wasn't an approved mission."

"I know and we've got people in DC looking into that and researching his phone records to figure that out, but I want you to understand that even if we get to the bottom of this, none of this is going to bring him back." He placed a comforting hand on her arm wanting to do anything he could to ease her pain.

She jerked her arm away from him and snapped, "Do you want him to be dead? Is that it? Why can't you just listen to me? There are too many questions here! Too many things that don't make sense! Like, where's his wallet. He had his driver's license and pictures of me and the kids in it. Why wasn't it with him if that really was his body?"

"I know there are a lot of unanswered questions here, Amanda, but that doesn't mean that the body we saw today isn't Lee's. I need you to understand that once we wrap up this investigation, we may still come to the same conclusion."

"If we do, then I'll accept that, but until I know for sure that the body in that morgue belongs to my husband, I'm not giving up! What if he is the one with the amnesia? Then he's going to need someone that he knows to help him get through it." She understood all too well how it felt not to have all your memories after a traumatic event.

"That's why we need to find this other man. Maybe our next move should be to contact EAO stateside and learn more about this doctor. Try to figure out where he might have taken the other victim. Come on, Let's go. There's nothing more for us to learn here. We should get back to DC."


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: So contrary to my last author's note, I was finally able to log back in under my old pen name and have deleted the original version of this story and will be posting updates to it only under my current pen name.

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Lee and Dr. Wright were boarding their plane walking to their seats toward the back of the airplane when he was stopped short. Sitting in a window seat staring blankly out the window was a woman he could swear was the one who had been haunting his dreams. She has such a faraway look on her face, a hint of sadness in her eyes. He glanced down at her hands clasped in her lap and found that she wasn't wearing the rings that she had been in his dream so he wondered if it was really her. Before he could say anything, a flight attendant had hustled them forward reminding them that there were other people waiting to board and that they needed to take their seats. Lee moved forward shaking off the nagging feeling of recognition. He was probably just projecting the image of the woman in his dreams onto some poor unsuspecting stranger because thoughts of his Amanda had never left his mind since he'd first awoken.

He took his seat, Dr. Wright sitting next to him. "Are you ok?" the doctor asked. "You looked like you were a bit lost there for a minute."

"It's just that woman that I've been dreaming about..." Lee said hesitantly.

"The one you keep calling Amanda," Wright said.

"Yeah, when we were walking back here, I could've sworn I saw her on this plane." He ran his hands through his hair. "I must be going crazy. I'm seeing her everywhere. I can't close my eyes without seeing her. I'm having all these crazy thoughts and dreams about her."

"You've had dreams other than the nightmare you told me about where you saw her get shot?"

"Yeah," he said blushing slightly as the thoughts of his most recent dream crossed his mind, the one in which they'd been making love. "The thing is the dream I had when I was napping this morning seemed so damn real, like it was more than a dream."

"It could be your subconscious trying to retrieve your lost memories."

"If that dream was real, then I think..." he hesitated not sure he should voice what's on his mind.

"You think what," the doctor probed.

"I think she's my wife," he said as he dug the picture of the two of them out of his pocket and showed it to the doctor. "This picture that you gave me, I think it's a wedding picture, but I can't quite put all the pieces together. In this last dream I remember a minister or something pronouncing us man and wife. He called her Amanda King, which fits with me remembering that her name is Amanda and he called me Lee Stetson, but I don't know if that's really my name. After I had that dream, I started having all these other thoughts running through my head where I was using different names, aliases or something and she was using different names too."

"Different names?" the doctor asked. He wondered where the man next to him had come up with the name Lee Stetson. He knew that the other man who'd been involved in the explosion was an American operative who'd been killed instantly and that they had identified him as this Lee Stetson, but what if they were wrong? He was only given the bare minimum in details and didn't even know how they'd come up with the ID on the dead man.

"Yeah, a bunch of them, Lee Stetson, Steadman, Stetsman, Simpson, Stimpson, and others Jeffrey Roth, Gregory Peterson, Ricky Joe something or other. I don't get it. Are we like some kind of modern day Bonnie and Clyde or something?"

Dr. Wright chuckled and said, "I don't think so." He wondered how much he should tell his patient about the information he'd been given by the investigation surrounding the explosion that had brought him to the hospital. He had wanted to wait a while to give him the details so as not to cause any more bewilderment to his charge's already befuddled mind.

"Then why else would we be running around with all these different names and which one is the real one?"

"Which one feels real to you?" the doctor said.

"I don't know," he said. "I don't know!" he repeated in frustration. "I wish I did. All I know is that this picture is obviously real and I was having a dream about me and her in these same clothes saying "I do" and then later that day, at least I think it was the same day, we were alone and..."'

"And?"

"It's nothing," Lee said not wanting to give the doctor the intimate details of his dream.

"If you want me to help you, then you need to be as honest as you can with me," he said.

Lee sighed and said, "It's private."

"I see," Dr. Wright said. His patient might not be forthcoming with the details, but he could guess why. If that had indeed been their wedding day, he could figure out what happened next and why he wouldn't want to talk about.

"What about the other photographs? How about the one of the two boys and the blond woman? Do they bring up any memories?"

"I don't know. I haven't really focused on that one too much. This one is the one that I keep coming back to because she was in my dreams before I ever saw the picture."

"Well, why don't you try to focus on the other one and see if it conjures up anything? Sometimes with amnesia, the simplest thing can trigger memory recovery. Maybe the memories of this woman are too complex and that's why your mind is in turmoil. Very often things that are emotionally complicated are the hardest to wrap your mind around."

Obediently Lee took a look at the other photo and tried to focus on the subjects of it. There were two young boys one grinning like he was on top of the world, the other only slightly smiling in a bashful way as if he didn't like being the center of attention or was self-conscious about having his picture taken for some reason. He couldn't quite figure out how he knew these things but he did. He closed his eyes and searched his limited memory banks for any recollection of the two boys. He must know them if he was carrying a picture of them with him. He tried to relax his breathing as Dr. Wright had told him to do when trying to recall bits about his life.

Before he knew it, he had an image of standing on the front porch of a white house, a bouquet of flowers behind his back, pushing the doorbell with his free hand. In less than a minute, the door had been answered by the older of the two boys. "Hi, you must be Phillip," he'd said.

"And you work with my mom?" the boy had questioned.

"Yeah, Lee Stetson." _There was that name again._

"Phillip King," the boy had said.

He then saw Amanda across the staircase landing saying, "Hi, come on in." with a bright smile on her face. _My Amanda, _he thought. _Whoa, where did that come from? _His eyes snapped open and he searched his memory banks again to realize that that was exactly how he thought of her.

"You remember something?"Dr. Wright asked.

"Yeah, he said pointing to the older boy in the photo."This one is named Phillip King. He's Amanda's son. I had a flash and then it was gone, just like that. I think I was picking her up for a date and was meeting her son for the first time. It doesn't make sense though."

"Why doesn't it?"

"Because I got the feeling the way that she looked at me, the way she greeted me that this wasn't our first date. In fact, she smiled at me like we were already in love, but if that were true why would I just be meeting her son for the first time?

"Only you can answer that. It's locked in your head somewhere," his doctor said.

"No," Lee said. "There's one other person who can answer my questions. I have to find her!"

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Amanda said staring blankly out the window lost in her thoughts. The trip to West Germany had been completely useless for finding out what had happened to her husband. They were still no closer to finding out what he'd been doing there. The only good thing that had come out of it is that she now had some hope that he was still alive somewhere, just with no memories. She was so confused that she didn't know which hurt worse, the idea of him being gone or the idea that he was alive, but had forgotten her. Tears stung her eyes at these thoughts. _No, that's stupid_, she thought. Of course she'd rather have him alive.

She felt Billy next to her squeezing her hand as he had noticed the tears. "How are you holding up," he asked.

She took a deep breath and said, "I'm hanging in there." She unconsciously reached for the chain around her neck trailing her fingers down her chest to feel for the rings that were there. They often gave her comfort when she and Lee were apart due to the secrecy of their marriage. When she became conscious of what she was doing, she tugged on the chain pulling the end of it out of her blouse gently finger the rings there. It seemed so wrong to see her two rings now joined by Lee's gold band. Since the day they had said their vows over two years ago, he'd always had his ring in his possession. She closed her eyes as she gripped the rings tightly and silently her tears fall hoping against hope that her theory was right and that the amnesiac, not the dead man, was her husband.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an announcement from the cockpit warning that everyone should remain seated and in their seatbelts as they were expecting some turbulence. _Turbulence, of course. Why should the airplane ride be any different than my life, _she thought. They weren't lying about the turbulence, the plane soon began to buck and rock and Amanda felt her stomach bucking along with it. She quickly reached for the airsickness bag in the seat back in front of her and had grabbed it just in time as she emptied her lunch into it. She felt her boss pulling her hair out of her face, holding her hair back until she was able to sit fully erect again, the nausea passing for the moment.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he patted her on the back comfortingly.

"I think so," she said weakly as she placed one hand over her stomach.

"Are you sure? You've traveled multiple times for work and I've never seen you get motion sickness before." When Amanda remained silent, Billy continued, "You should probably get some rest. The stress you've been under has to have taken its toll."

"I'll rest when I know what's happened to Lee," she said adamantly. "I have to know if that body is his. If he's the amnesiac, he's going to need me to help him recover."

"Amanda, even if you're right and he is still alive, you're not going to be any help to him if you drop of exhaustion. Look at you, you're a wreck. Since this whole thing started, you've fainted once and thrown up twice from the stress."

Amanda sighed deciding it was time to tell Billy the whole truth. "It's not just the stress that's making me sick," She said. "I'm pregnant."


	7. Chapter 7

Billy stared at Amanda wide-eyed wondering if he'd heard her correctly. "You're pregnant?"

She nodded. "We got the news a few days ago." _Was it really possible? Had it only been three days since she and Lee had begun to finally really plan for their future together? _Phillip and Jamie had been spending a week of their summer vacation with Joe so she and Lee had had some rare time to spend together as husband and wife. They had for once been able to go home from work together every day and spend uninterrupted evenings together. She had found out the news late Friday afternoon just before leaving the office and had told Lee when they'd gotten back to his apartment. He hugged her tightly and they'd spent the next two days celebrating and discussing how to break the news to their family. They'd decided to just come right out and tell the truth when Joe brought the boys home on Monday night.

"We? So, Lee knew before he was…killed?"

"Stop saying that he was killed," she snapped. "We don't know that for sure. It's very likely that the local authorities misidentified him because of his badge being in the car."

"Amanda, I understand what you're saying," Billy said. "And I hope you're right and that it's just a simple case of amnesia, but I don't want you getting your hopes up."

"Hope is all I have, Billy. I am not willing to accept that he's dead until we know one-hundred percent for sure," she said tears once again falling. "You should have seen him when I told him he was going to be a dad. He was so excited talking about all the things he wanted to do for the baby. It didn't even seem to faze him that we were going to have a rough time for a while since no one knew about our marriage. Now, do you understand why I have to cling to every bit of hope that I can? I've already raised two children by myself and I don't want to do it again."

"I completely understand that, Amanda," Billy said sympathetically. "But if Lee _is_ still alive just without his memories, don't you owe it to him when we find him to have him come home to a healthy child? How do you think that's going to happen if you won't rest and take care of yourself?"

Amanda knew that he was right, but she'd been having trouble sleeping ever since the day that Lee had called and said he was going away. "I don't even know if I can sleep."

"Well, you should at least try," Billy encouraged her. "The turbulence has calmed down a little. Look, the flight attendants are even up and moving around again." He flagged down one of them handing her the used airsickness bag and asking for a pillow for the woman beside him.

"Thank you for looking out for me Billy," Amanda said as she reclined her seat as much as it would go and tucked the pillow behind her head. She closed her eyes and was asleep within minutes her mind reliving memories of her husband.

_Lee and Amanda had walked into the apartment together hand in hand. The door hadn't been closed behind them for a full minute when they were in each other's arms kissing feverishly hands groping, wandering and tugging at buttons and zippers. Amanda had pulled back from Lee's embrace for a moment and said, "Lee, wait. There's something I have to talk to you about."_

_"Is it something that can wait?" he said gazing at her with passion-filled eyes before he lowered his lips to hers and pulled her tightly against him again._

_She lost all capability for rational thought at that point and decided it _could _wait, for a little while anyway. Lee had lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom. They'd undressed and made love slowly holding each other both savoring every kiss, every touch until they were both spent. They lay there together quietly while their breathing returned to normal, Amanda lying with her head on his shoulder lazing running her fingers across his chest. "Wow," she said. _

_"Sums it up," he said with a laugh as he kissed the top of her head. "You said you have something to talk to me about?"_

_She shifted her position so that she was lying atop him and propped her head up on her hands so she could look him in the eye. "Yeah, I do," she said with a smile. "I got some news today. You know I just had my annual Agency physical earlier this week."_

_"Yeah, I remember," he said. He then looked at her, his eyes wide with panic. "Is that something wrong? Are you ok? Did Dr. McJohn find something?"_

_Amanda kissed him softly to alleviate his fears. "Breathe, Sweetheart. I'm ok, but Dr. McJohn did find something, but not a bad something, at least I hope you won't think it's a bad something. I think it's a really, really good something, but it's something we've only talked about in a random what-if kind of way and never really considered the possibility that it could really happen with all the craziness in our lives. I just hope that you see it as a good thing. I mean, it's going to be complicated for a while but I think as long as we stick together-"_

_Lee kissed her to stop her ramble. When he released her lips, he said, "Amanda, you're babbling. What is it? What did Dr. McJohn find?" _

_"I'm pregnant," she blurted out._

Lee awoke with a start as the memories washed over him. _Was that a really memory? If so, how long ago, was it? _He kept getting these flashes of memories, but his bewildered mind couldn't put them into any kind of chronological order.

Dr. Wright noticed his agitation and said, "Another nightmare?"

Lee closed his eyes and tried to recall the dream he'd just had. He forced his mind to conjure up the image of her in his arms giving him the news that he was going to be a father. He was able to remember the elation he felt at hearing those words and shook his head. "Ow," he said.

"You might wanna watch shaking your head," Wright said. "You're still recovering from a head injury, remember? That's the whole reason that I'm traveling with you, to help you recover, remember?"

"Yeah," Lee said as he absently fingered the bandages still adorning his aching head.

"Do you want to talk about this last dream? Was it about Amanda again?"

"Yeah, only this time it wasn't at the house I saw. We were in an apartment. I don't know why. If we were married over two years ago, why would we be in a place like that and not a house with the kids? I don't get this, Doc. The more I remember, the more confused I get. The pieces just don't seem to fit together. I remember the wedding as clear as day, but I don't remember ever living in that house I saw. I remember visiting there many times, hanging out with the kids, but every time I have a flash of the two of us alone, it's either in that apartment, or outside in this gazebo or in an office. I can't even put these pieces in the right order to know what happened when." He reached into his pocket pulling out the three charred photographs and the half-melted license and staring at them again looking for some kind of clue. He didn't know if that memory was a recent one from years ago or from a week ago. Was he already a father or was his wife still carrying his child? Was she even still his wife? In the dream he'd just had, neither of them was wearing a wedding band. "Are these the only things I had on me?"

"There were a couple of other photos, but they're older, black and white photos, I wasn't sure if they would help you with recovering your memories of who you are."

"I want to see them," Lee demanded.

Dr. Wright reached for his briefcase from under the seat in front of him and extracted the photos in question. "Ok, but I don't know how much help they'll be to you," he said as he handed them to him.

Lee perused the photos, one of a couple in wedding attire. Looking at the man in the photo was like looking in a mirror. He flipped the photograph over and saw that it was dated May 14, 1949. "My parents, maybe?"He said.

"That would be my guess," Wright answered.

Lee looked that the other one and saw it was the same couple only with a small boy and all three were wearing party hats. He examined the back of this one as well. The scrawl on the back was faded and all he could make out were the words "fifth birthday," the rest of the writing too worn to read. "This must be me as a child, but why wouldn't I have any more modern photos of my parents?"

"I can't answer that, but I think I know someone who can. While you were sleeping, I was able to use the airplane's satellite phone to call the EAO office in DC and spoke with the legal department to try to get a copy of the dental records belonging to this Lee Stetson and compare them to yours," he paused not sure he should tell him the rest. He didn't want to overload his already fractured mind.

"There's something else you're not telling me, Doc," Lee said. He didn't know how he knew it, he just did. "What is it?"

Dr. Wright sighed and reached for the picture that included the boys and said, "When you mentioned earlier that you recalled this boy's name being Phillip King, the name struck a chord."

"How?" Lee inquired. "He's just a kid. How would you recognize his name?"

"There's a lawyer in our legal department named Joseph King. I don't know him very well, but I've worked with him a couple of times and I had a vague recollection that he had two boys from his first marriage. He's the one I spoke to on the phone and he confirmed that his boys are Phillip and Jamie."

Lee snatched the photo back from him and looked at the boy with the glasses, "Jamie?" He once again closed his eyes willing himself to remember. He got a brief flash of the younger boy hitting him with a basketball, but it was soon gone.

"Did this lawyer say anything else?"

"Look, I don't really feel like I should say anything else until we land and get you checked out. As it is, you shouldn't even be out of the hospital."

"Damn it, Doc, just tell me what you know!" He said in frustration.

"Fine, but you may not want to know." He explained to him what he knew about the explosion and the dead man being identified as Lee Stetson and that this man was an intelligence operative. "I asked Mr. King if he knew you or if he knew Lee Stetson, anyway and he said that he did, but he was very vague. All he told me was that this Lee Stetson and his ex-wife, Amanda, worked together. I got the impression that there was more he wasn't saying. I couldn't get any more information from him, but I did get him to agree to meet with us at the EAO office when we land."

Lee thoughts were reeling with everything that he'd just been told. "So, if I really am this Lee Stetson...that means that I'm...a spy."


	8. Chapter 8

Lee's thoughts were whirling once the words were out of his mouth. Of course, this made perfect sense now. Why else would he have all these different identities in his head? This new information though made him doubt everything he thought was true about Amanda. He thought back to the two different wedding ceremonies that he had memories of and that the doctor had just told them they work together. He wondered if either of those weddings were real. All this time, he'd been thinking he was married, but maybe it was just part of some elaborate cover. Maybe she was just his partner.

He sighed as he tried in vain to make sense of this new knowledge. Maybe the marriage was fake, but he couldn't believe the way he felt about her was fake. If it were just part of a cover, sure they might have to kiss to keep up appearances in public, but that wouldn't explain why they would do so in private. And if definitely didn't explain the multiple other images he had in his head of making love with her. So, what was she to him? Were they lovers as well as partners? Were they friends with benefits? Surely not. He was sure he wasn't the type of man who would just use a woman for sex. And it definitely didn't explain that most recent dream in which she'd told him she was pregnant. He tried to recapture that memory and recalled her mentioning something about an agency. If they were indeed spies, that would make sense like nothing else had.

His big question was, were they married or not? He hadn't been wearing a wedding band when they'd found him and surely his doctor who seemed so concerned about helping him regain what he'd lost would have told him if they'd found one with him. He glanced down at his left hand. There was no visible tan line on his ring finger as there should have been for a man who'd been married for more than two years, but that picture and the memories it invoked seemed so real. So did the memory of them together in the hotel room, the memory of them making love when they _had_ both been wearing those rings. He closed his eyes once again and tried to conjure up that memory again. He recalled the two of them lying together in the afterglow of their lovemaking softly kissing and holding each other. "I love you, Mrs. Stetson," he'd said.

No, they had definitely been married. He was sure of it. Were they no longer married? Had their marriage already ended in divorce? He couldn't imagine that that was true, not the way that thoughts of her made him feel. _My Amanda, _he thought once again. It was the only thing that made sense though. Why else would they have been married but not living in the same house. He had recalled many images of the two of them together in the house that he believed she shared with the children, but not of them living together in it. His mind brought up images of having dinner with her and the boys and the blond woman, her mother. Yes, he had a distinct recollection of her calling the other woman "Mother." He had images of him playing basketball with the boys, baseball, video games even. He had images of the two of them cuddling on the couch after the kids had gone to bed, but every memory ended the same way with them saying good-night on the porch or in the back yard.

The back yard. That's where he seemed like he had the most memories of her, multiple ones of him tapping on the kitchen window or the back door and every time, she would stop whatever she was doing and look at him with a smile and within minutes she would join him outside. It stuck him that that's where the gazebo was that he had remembered. He remembered the two of them sharing many kisses in that gazebo and yes, he even had a memory or two of them making love in that gazebo. The more he thought about that house, the more it felt like home, but it was clear that he didn't live there and never had. So why did every memory he had of that house make him feel more at home than all of the other memories combined?

"How are you doing over there," Dr. Wright's voice intruded on his thoughts.

"I don't know," he said. "I keep getting all these flashes, but they're are jumbled and they don't make sense. Did that lawyer guy...did he say anything else that would give you any kind of clue about me and Amanda? What kind of relationship we have?"

"No, the only thing that he said was that you worked together, like I said he was very vague, but he did say that he couldn't really say a lot over the phone and that he'd be able to answer more of my questions when he saw us."

"Well, that can't be soon enough for me," Lee said. "I have to know what's going on. It seems like the more I remember, the more confusing it becomes."

"How do you mean?" Wright asked.

Lee once again extracted the wedding photo from the pile and said, "I could swear that this picture was a wedding picture, but other than that day, I don't have any recollection of being married to her. Nothing about us moving in together, sharing a home or household chores, or grocery shopping together, none of the everyday stuff that married couples do together. And I don't have any memories of wearing the wedding ring other than that day and a handful of scattered images from that nightmare where she was shot. I remember wearing it in the hospital, then not wearing it, then wearing it again. I remembered that her heart stopped and I was there with her mother and we were just holding onto each other for support but I wasn't wearing it then. If we were married, why wouldn't I be wearing it in front of her mother."

"Her mother?"

"Yes," Lee said. "I remembered that the woman in the picture with the boys is her mother."

"Well, are you sure that the nightmare of her being shot, isn't just that, a nightmare and not a real memory? I mean, if you are indeed.." he lowered his voice "...a spy, maybe this is just a fear that you've had for her safety, that she would one day be shot in the line of duty."

Lee ran both hands through his hair in frustration and said, "I don't know, Doc. I just don't know."

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Billy was out of his seat, using the plane's satellite phone to talk to Francine. "We'll be landing at Dulles at about eight. We'll need a car there to pick us up. We're bringing the body with us, but there seems to be some doubt now as to whether it's really Lee or not," he was explaining.

"Are you sure that this is just what you want to be true?"Francine asked in concern. "I mean, I would love for Lee to still be alive as much as you, but I don't think it's a good idea to give ourselves false hope."

"As long as there's doubt, there's a chance for hope, Francine. I want a forensics team on standby ready to go as soon as we're off the plane. In fact, I want them to meet us at the airport to take possession of the body. Before we get there, I want you to pull Lee's charts, his dental records, medical records, the works. I want them compared to the corpse and to records that I was able to obtain of a John Doe that was also found at the scene."

"Yes, Sir," she said.

"Have you been able to find out anything else on your end?"

"We traced the last few phone calls to and from Lee's number and found the last outgoing call he made was to Amanda, before that to the airline to book a flight to West Germany. There was an incoming call right before that from a number in West Berlin that we haven't been able to run down yet, but we're working on it. On another front, Amanda's not crazy."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she and Lee really are married...were married," she corrected herself.

"Let's go with are, for now," Billy said. "I don't like thinking of Lee in the past tense until we know for sure."

"Well, either way, it's true. I looked it up. February 13, 1987. two and a half years ago in a little Justice of the Peace in Smyth County. Here's the weird thing, Billy. It was the day before Amanda was shot in Las Palmas, California. I did a whole lot more digging. They spent their wedding night at a little place called the Crystal Springs Inn located in Marion, registered and Mr. and Mrs. Stetson, then they were on a flight to Fresno also booked as Mr. and Mrs. Stetson where they then rented a car and drove to Las Palmas and the rest is all part of Lee's report about her shooting."

"Except for the fact that they were married when it happened."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to state the obvious," Francine said. "That's not all, there was a call for you about an hour ago from Amanda's ex. Apparently, he had tried several times to reach you and the switchboard was giving him a really hard time putting him through. The operator got an earful from me when I heard about it, believe me! When I called him back I gave him the direct line to your office so he can bypass the switchboard entirely. I've been intercepting all your alls anyway."

"Joe King, why would he be calling me?"

"It seems that he got a call from a Dr. Joel Wright who also works for the EAO and has been treating an amnesiac John Doe. He said that the doctor was asking all kinds of questions about Lee and Amanda."

"Did he tell you what he told them?"Billy asked wondering if the amnesiac was indeed Lee and if he'd started to put together pieces of his life enough to remember his name. But why would that result in the doctor calling Joe, not him or Amanda or Francine or Mrs. West?

"He said that he was purposely vague and only told him that they work together at IFF. He's supposed to be meeting with this doctor later tonight to gather more information. I told him to call immediately when he has more."

"What a nightmare," Billy said with a shake of his head.

"One more thing," Francine said. "Dr. Smyth has been in and out of here and is about to blow his stack. He's furious that you let Amanda have this case instead of making her take the two weeks."

"Did you explain the situation to him?"

"I did. I explained to him that it's better to have her working it as an official investigation rather than to have her go off half-cocked on her own which he accepted the logic of at first, but now that he knows they're married, he's become less understanding. He's been grilling everyone who even had the slightest working relationship with either of them to find out who knew about it."

"Great!" Billy said sarcastically.

"He tried grilling me, but I shut him down. I told him that If he wanted a thorough investigation, he needed to let me work and save the twenty questions for another time."

"I'll bet he didn't like that one bit," Billy said.

"No, he didn't, but he is a practical man and he agreed to leave me alone for a while," Francine said. "But I think you and I are still in for a massive interrogation once the whole mess is done and over with."

"Thanks for the update, Francine. We'll be on the ground in a couple of hours and we'll talk some more then." He hung up the phone and returned to his seat to find Amanda still sleeping soundly. As he re-fastened his seatbelt he said a silent prayer that the doctor's call to Joe King was a good sign that Lee was the amnesiac and not the corpse.


	9. Chapter 9

Dr. Wright kept a close watch on his patient as they watched the baggage carousel moving. He didn't look well. He'd only allowed him to leave the clinic because he'd gotten the distinct impression that if he hadn't his charge would have just bolted anyway and then he would have been in worse shape because he wouldn't be getting the care he needed. He noticed how pale and weak he looked and that he seemed to be staring not at the luggage carousel, but across it.

"Are you ok?" Dr. Wright asked.

His doctor's voice snapped him out of his reverie. "Doc, I think she's here. Over there," Lee said pointing across the carousel.

"Where?"

"Right there," he said turning back to where he'd seen the woman of his dreams only to find that she'd been obscured by the crowd. _The woman of my dreams, _he thought finding it intriguing that his mind had imagined her that way. She had definitely been haunting his dreams since he'd first been admitted to the hospital, maybe longer than that if these dreams he was having were real memories and not just dreams. "She's gone, but she was right there. I saw her."

"Just like you saw her on the plane," the doctor said disbelievingly as he grabbed for his suitcase. "I think we need to get you someplace to get some real rest so you can focus your thoughts better. You'd be amazed what a good night's sleep can do for the healing process." He guided his patient away from the baggage claim area and to the car rental desk.

"So, you think I'm just crazy," Lee said with a shake of his head. _Big mistake, _he thought as that movement had set his head pounding again.

"No, I don't think you're crazy at all, but you're nowhere close to being fully healed yet. Head injuries are tricky. Sometimes they can cause you to hallucinate. I'll bet that's what's going on here. You've been seeing this woman so much in your dreams that her image is carrying over from your subconscious mind to your conscious mind causing you to see her everywhere you look."

"Maybe," he said not sure he believed. It sounded like a lot of psychobabble to him. He was sure he'd seen her, not only here in the airport, but on the plane as well. He shook off that thought. _No, that's just stupid, _he chided himself. How likely was it really that the woman he'd been dreaming about and having flashes of would have been on the same flight? Why would she have even been in West Germany to start with? Of course, he didn't know why he'd been there either. West Germany was a long way from Washington, DC. He just wished he could put some real answers together.

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Billy and Amanda made their way through Dulles International Airport to the baggage claim area. Billy handed her his claim ticket. "Amanda, can you do me a favor?" he asked. "Can you get my suitcase? It's a brown canvas one with a black ID tag on it?"

"Sure, Sir. What are you going to do?"

"I want to check to make sure that the forensic team I requested is in place to take possession of the corpse," he said. Before he took off, he turned once again to glance back at Amanda. Physically she looked better now that she'd had some sleep, but he could still see the signs of emotional distress evident on her face. He sighed as he made his way through the crowd to find his forensic team.

Amanda waited impatiently for her suitcase and Billy's to come down the carousel glancing around occasionally to take stock of the other passengers. She shook her head. Taking in every detail around her was a habit she'd acquired in her six years at the Agency, but she doubted it would do her any good at the moment. She returned her gaze back to the luggage carousel in front of her though she figured it might be a while since there were people in front of her partially blocking her view. She tried to peer between them and that's when her eyes fell on a familiar pair of hazel eyes looking back at her from the other side of the carousel.

_Lee,_ she thought. She looked at him again to be sure. His head was bandaged and he looked really weak, but she was sure it was him. She'd know those eyes anywhere. "Lee," she shouted as she attempted to push her way through the crowd to get to the other side. She was met with resistance and cries of "Stop shoving" and "Wait your turn, Lady." Growing even more impatient, she pulled her badge from her pocket and said, "Look, I'm a federal agent and I need to get through here!"

When the other passengers from her flight finally cut a path for her, she raced to get to her husband only to find that he was no longer there. Where could he have gone? She ran through the crowd calling his name. "Lee! Lee!' She shouted his name until her throat began to ache, but there was no response. Maybe he already made it outside. It was hard telling with the crowd. She ran out to the loading area outside still calling his name and ran headlong into Billy.

"Amanda, calm down," he said grabbing her arms to slow her down before she hurt herself.

She wrenched her arms out of his grasp and continued to scan the area looking for any sign of her husband, "Lee!" she called. "Lee!"

Billy grabbed her from behind this time pinning her arms to her chest. "Amanda, you've got to stop this!"

"No, Billy, let me go! I saw Lee! He was here! He was here," she said as the tears once again began to flow.

"Amanda, don't do this to yourself," Billy said still holding onto her. "I know you want to see Lee again and I know that when you want something that badly, it can make you see things you want to see."

Amanda broke free of Billy again and whirled around to face him her eyes flaring with anger. "Don't patronize me! I know what I saw, Billy and I saw Lee! After six years of working together and two and half years of marriage, do you think I wouldn't know my own husband?"

"I have no doubt that you do, Amanda, but that doesn't mean that your mind can't still play tricks on you," Billy said still keeping his cool. "Think about what happened when you were kidnapped by Birol. You said in your debriefing that you kept seeing images of Lee showing up long before he ever got there to rescue you. Don't you think it's possible that this is the same kind of thing?"

"That was different. Birol drugged me and kept me from sleeping properly. That's what caused those hallucinations, but this... this wasn't a hallucination. This was real. It was Lee and he's hurt. He needs me. We have to find him."

"Ok, ok," Billy said. "Before we leave here, I'll make sure that we get a passenger list from this flight just to double-check. Will that make you feel better?"

"Yes, Sir," Amanda said. "Thank you, Sir."

"Anything I can do to help," Billy said but lacked confidence in his ability to really make her feel better. He believed it to be highly unlikely that Lee would have been on the same flight that he and Amanda had been on. It would be just too coincidental. Even if he had been, if he had no memories of who he was, chances were good that he wouldn't be traveling under his own name. "Listen, why don't you let me wrap up here with the forensic team and you go get our luggage, ok?"

Amanda nodded and said, "Ok," before she headed back inside to the baggage claim area. She had just finished gathering their two suitcases when Billy returned. She handed his to him.

"Thank you, Amanda. There's a car waiting for us outside, a blue agency sedan. Why don't you go on out there and I'll get that passenger list then we can go, ok?"

"Ok" she said numbly. She sighed in frustration. Fresh tears stung her already irritated eyes that she had been that close to having her husband back only to have missed him as she stepped back outside. She laid her free hand over her stomach and thought of her unborn child and how much she needed to know that she wasn't going to have to raise another baby alone like she had with Phillip and Jamie. At that thought, another wave of nausea hit her and she made a beeline for the trash can at the curb heaving violently as her tears now freely flowed from her eyes.

"Mrs. King, are you all right?" the agent from the car asked as he exited the vehicle.

While she emptied the contents of her stomach again, she became vaguely aware of someone saying her name. When the nausea passed, she looked up to see a face she recognized from The Agency. "I'm sorry, Agent Fielding, what were you saying?"

"I was asking if you're ok," Fielding said. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," she said though she was far from fine. She doubted she'd ever be fine again until she had her husband back in her arms.

"Ok," Fielding said not quite believing it. "Is that yours?" he asked indicating the suitcase she'd dropped in her haste to make it to the trash can.

"Yeah," She said with a nod as she wiped her tears away and tried to make herself look somewhat presentable while Agent Fielding picked up her suitcase and loaded it into the trunk of the car.

"Ok, I've got it," Billy said from behind her. "Let's go," he added as he loaded his suitcase in the trunk next to Amanda's but keeping his briefcase with him so he could go over the evidence they had so far on the drive back to The Agency. As he got into the backseat next to Amanda he said, "Agent Fielding, We need to stop in Arlington to drop Mrs. King off before returning to the office."

"No, Billy. I can't go home. Not yet," she said.

"Amanda, you have to. You need to get some real rest," Billy argued.

"No, Billy. I slept for seven hours on the plane. I'll be fine. I need to see this through."

"Amanda, don't force me to make this an order," Billy said warningly.

"You can make it an order all you like. It won't change anything. If you drop me off at home, I'll just get in my car and drive to the office anyway," she said. "I told you on the flight here that I'm not going to rest until I know what's happened to Lee."

Billy sighed in resignation realizing how true what Lee had always told him about Amanda's stubbornness and refusal to follow orders was. They rode the rest of the way back to The Agency in silence.

When they arrived at The Agency, Billy and Amanda went straight to his office to check in with Francine. When they walked in, she took in Amanda's disheveled appearance and red-rimmed eyes and said, "God, Amanda, you look like hell," before she could help herself. She realized the instant the words were out of her mouth how insensitive they sounded.

"Thank you so very much, Francine," Amanda said caustically.

"Any word yet from the forensic pathologist assigned to the corpse we brought with us," Billy inquired before an argument could erupt between the two women. Amanda didn't need any more stress added on top of the stress she was already under.

"Sorry, Amanda," Francine said sincerely before turning to Billy to answer his question. "We don't have an answer yet. The last time I checked, they were still taking x-rays of the body, but we did get more info from Lee's phone records. That phone call came from an apartment in West Germany rented to an Agent Gerald Russell." Billy nodded in recognition. "You know him?"

"By name only," Billy said. "He's been a part of task force assigned to West Germany since '81, I believe. Lee worked with him the last time he was there. Did you pull up his records to see what he's been working on recently?"

"I did," she said picking up a thick folder from Billy's desk "it seems the task force he's working with has been investigating this ultra-radical group called Red Dawn that surfaced shortly after President Reagan's very memorable "tear down this wall" speech in June of '87. From what I was able to gather, these guys are seriously opposed to ending communist reign in East Germany. They've got members from all over the Eastern Bloc, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria and The Soviet Union. They've been getting more antsy since the removal of the Hungarian border fence this past May. From the reports, Russell and his team have been filing, the group is supposedly led by a German named Helfried Alfons."

"Now, this is starting to make some sense," Billy said at hearing that name. He was sure there was a connection to Lee there, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. "Cross-reference that name with Lee's reports from '81."

"Will do," Francine said and started to make her way out of the room, but was met at the door by a man walking in. "Dr. Andrews, any news?"

"Yeah," Andrews answered as he entered the room holding a file in his hands. "We have a positive ID on the body in the lab."


	10. Chapter 10

Author's note: I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has been faithfully reading and reviewing and those have sent me PMs about it. I was amazed to find out how many people had read the beginnings of this story that I posted more than fifteen years ago and were still anxiously waiting a conclusion. I apologize that it's taken so long to get it updated. It's still not completed yet, but it's well on its way to the conclusion that I'd always envisioned.

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There was an awkward silence in Billy's office as the room filled with an air of anticipation. Amanda sank into the nearest chair gripping the armrests for support in the event that Dr. Andrews revealed that the dead man was indeed her husband.

"We checked the dental records and medical history and it's not your man, Stetson," Dr. Andrews confirmed causing everyone in the room to breathe a sigh of relief. Amanda sat silently letting out the breath she'd been holding, tears of relief flooding her eyes as the doctor continued, "However, he is a perfect match for the agent Francine called me about, Gerald Russell. We're already working on notifying his next of kin."

"Thank you for rushing the results and for staying so late to do so," Billy das gratefully. "You can knock off for the night."

"Glad I could help," Dr. Andrews said as he left the room.

"Thank God," Francine said also relieved to know that the body didn't belong to Lee.

"Francine, don't forget that cross-referencing," Billy reminded her.

"Oh," she said. She'd momentarily forgotten that Billy had given her a job to do in her jubilation that Lee was still alive. "Right away, Sir," she said as she left the room.

"So, that means that that very well could have been Lee I saw at the airport," Amanda said smugly. Something had been telling her since they'd begun this investigation that the facts they had didn't add up right.

"Maybe," Billy said as he took a seat behind his desk and pulled the flight's passenger list out of his briefcase. He scanned the list looking for anything that would give him a clue. "Aha"" He said in triumph. "Here it is. You may be right, Amanda. Dr. Joel Wright with the EAO was a passenger on that plane and he was traveling with an unidentified patient."

"We need to get to this Dr. Wright as soon as possible," Amanda said.

"I know we do, Amanda. but the EAO offices are going to be closed this late. We're not going to be able to do anything more until they re-open in the morning. For now, I suggest you go home, get a good night's sleep and we'll start again first thing in the morning."

"Sir, I_" Billy held up his hand to stop her.

"Amanda, this time, I'm putting my foot down. There's nothing more we can do tonight. It's not going to do either of us any good to stay here all night. Now, you can either go home voluntarily or I can have a team of agents forcibly drag you home. Lee wouldn't want you driving yourself into exhaustion, especially while you're carrying his child."

"Ok," she conceded seeing the reason in his argument.

"Good," He said as he and Amanda made their way to the door. As he exited he saw Francine working at her desk and said to her. "Francine, why don't you take off for the night too? You can pick that back up in the morning. You've been here all day."

"Thank you, Sir," she said gratefully as she switched off her computer, not arguing like Amanda had. She'd been working tirelessly since this whole thing had begun and had started to feel like she was going to float away in a sea of caffeine with all the coffee she'd drunk just to keep herself going.

"Come on, Amanda," Billy said. "I'll drive you home."

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After taking the time to rent a car, Dr. Wright and his charge didn't enter the EAO headquarters in DC shortly after nine-thirty that night. Wright checked his directory of the offices to find the location of Joseph King's office. "This way," he said to his patient as he directed him to follow behind him.

"You don't know where his office is?" Lee questioned. "I thought you said you knew this guy."

"Only vaguely. As I said, I don't know him all that well. I've only worked with him a couple of times. There's not a lot of demand for a neurologist, especially one with a specialty in brain injury like myself to work with a lawyer within the organization," he explained. "Here it is."

They entered the office and found there was no one in the outer office. Due to the late hours, Mr. King must have sent his secretary home for the night. He noticed there was still light coming from the partially open inner office. He knocked lightly on the door which was answered by a "Come in."

Dr. Wright pushed the door open and entered the room, Lee trailing behind him. "Mr. King," he said shaking the other man's hand.

"Dr. Wright," Joe said returning his handshake absently his attention focused solely on the man standing nervously behind the doctor. "Lee, is that really you?" he said releasing the doctor's hand and stepping from behind his desk.

"You know me," Lee asked warily instantly disliking the man approaching him though he didn't know just why.

"Yes, I know you," he said reaching out to shake Lee's hand vigorously. "Don't you know me?"

Lee pulled his hand from the other man's grasp and said, "No, I don't. I'm sorry. To be honest, I don't even know me right now."

Joe looked at the doctor, "What's going on here?" he asked as he gestured for the two of them to take a seat while he sat at his desk across from them.

"He's suffering from a brain injury as a result of severe head trauma. It's affected his memory."

"Ah," Joe said nodding in understanding. "Well, that explains why he wouldn't have contacted Amanda," He said to the doctor before turning his attention back to Lee and saying, "She's going to be so glad to see you. She's been an absolute wreck since they told her you were dead."

"Amanda thinks I'm dead?" Lee asked in alarm.

"You remember Amanda?"

"Sort of," he said hesitantly. "I have a lot of stuff in my head, most of it about her, but it's hard to make out what's real and what's not. Can you tell me, who is she to me?"

Joe hesitated, reluctant to answer in the presence of the doctor," I...um...I can't really tell you that."

"What do you mean you can't tell me," Lee said angrily rising from his seat and leaning across the desk to glare at the other man. "You're the first person I've run across since this whole damn thing happened who knows anything about me and now you're saying you can't tell me? I don't accept that!" He said pounding his fist into the desk. The sudden movement of rising so quickly sent his head spinning again and he was forced to resume his seat.

"Look, I would love to help you, but there are things that I can't say with the doctor here. You and Amanda swore me to secrecy years ago and I made a promise to Amanda that I would never talk to anyone other than the two of you about who you are. what you do, and what your real relationship is. Now, if Dr. Wright wouldn't mind stepping outside for the moment, I'll tell you everything I know."

"I'm sorry, I can't do that," Dr. Wright said. "I'm not leaving my patient. He still needs medical care and I'm not willing to leave him unattended until I know that he's on the mend. I'm not willing to take the chance that whatever you know about him may harm his psyche without me being there to help him through it. Obviously, if you've been sworn to secrecy, it must be something pretty serious."

"I understand, but you have to understand that I can't betray my promise."

"How would it be betraying it if I'm asking you to answer my questions? You said that Amanda and I swore you to secrecy together and I'm asking you to tell me what's going on. Who am I, really?"

"I'm sorry, Lee, I can't. You don't know what you're asking. If you had all your memories, you wouldn't ask me to reveal your secrets in front of someone else who doesn't already know. You wouldn't want me to. There's a reason that you asked me to keep these secrets and I won't change my mind on this. You should really here it from Amanda anyway."

"So, you're saying you won't help me? That I'm wasting my time?"Lee said incredulously. He knew there was a reason he didn't like this man.

"I didn't say I wouldn't help you. I'll help you in any way that I can. Amanda would want me to, but I can't be the one to answer your questions. Give me just a minute to make a phone call." He dialed the number Francine had given him earlier and when it rang several times with no answer, he slammed it down in frustration. "Damn!' he swore. He knew that trying the switchboard line would do no good. He'd already been down that road today. He then dialed Amanda's home number wand fidgeted impatiently until Dotty answered. "Dotty, it's Joe. I need to talk to Amanda right away."

"No, Joe," his ex-mother-in-law replied firmly. "She just got into bed twenty minutes ago and she's sound asleep. I'm not waking her up again until morning."

"Dotty, you have to. It's urgent! Something's happened here at the office. It's imperative that I speak with her right now! This can't wait until morning."

"There's nothing that can be that important that it can't wait until morning. My daughter has just lost her husband!"

"Dotty, Listen to me for a minute," Joe pleaded.

"No, you listen to me, Joseph King, if you're just calling to say that you need to drop the boys off because of yet another work disaster, you can forget it! Those children are just as much your responsibility as they are Amanda's. She's been through a major trauma and she needs her rest!" Dotty said vehemently and without giving him the chance to say another word slammed the phone in his ear.

"Dotty? Dotty? Damn it!" he swore again. He hung the phone up and immediately picked it back up to dial again only to get a busy signal. "Great, she took the phone off the hook."

"Who did?" Lee inquired.

"Amanda's mother," Joe said sighing in frustration. "She hung up on me and took the phone off the hook. She said that Amanda's in bed for the night and she refused to get her up. I guess we're going to have to go over there in person."

"Wait," Lee said. "Maybe we shouldn't." He thought back to the memory of her telling him that she was pregnant. If that was as recent a memory as it felt like, she should be allowed to rest. "Maybe her mother's right and we should just let her sleep."

"I thought you wanted answers," Joe said in astonishment.

"I do, believe me, but if she's believed that I'm dead all this time, she's probably been under a lot of stress and would need to rest. Besides, I've already gone several days not knowing who I am. What difference is a few more hours going to make?" Amanda getting her rest wasn't his only concern. He wondered how she would react once she knew that he only had vague memories of her. He had a feeling that she'd be unbearably hurt. He thought back to what the doctor said about a good night's sleep helping the healing process and hoped it was true. It certainly had seemed that every time he slept, he awoke with more memories of his life. He hoped that by the time he woke up in the morning, he'd have more of the pieces put together.

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Dr. Wright concurred. "Like I was saying earlier, you could benefit from getting a full night's sleep. The facility I request should be all set up for you."

"No, no facility, no clinic, no hospital," Lee said firmly. That was one thing that he remembered for sure. He hated hospitals. "I want to go home."

"But we don't even know where your home is," Dr. Wright protested. "We only have a partial address from the remains of your driver's license, remember?"

"Mr. King here knows me. He must know where I live," Lee said looking at Joe. "That's something you can tell me, isn't it? Surely, that's not some big secret."

"I can do that," Joe said as he jotted down the address.

"Good," Dr. Wright said. "That would be even better. It may do wonders for him to spend time in a familiar environment." He dug into his bag again. "You'll need these then," Dr. Wright said handing Lee his keys. "They were in your pocket along with the wallet when you were found."

"All right then," Lee said with a smile. "Let's get me home."


	11. Chapter 11

When Lee unlocked the door and let himself in, he was struck by another memory of Amanda saying, "Everyone's entitled to a few secrets."

He'd replied to that, "You can have as many as you want," while he had stepped through the door before turning back to her and asking nervously," How many do you want?" to which she'd shut the door in his face.

He shook off the memory and walked further into the apartment taking in everything getting flashes of Amanda everywhere he looked. The sofa where they had cuddled and kissed numerous times, the dining room table where they had shared many meals. He walked down the hallway and saw two doors, one on each side of the hall. He opened the one to the left and was struck by yet more flashes. He realized that he and Amanda had spent multiple nights together in this room. He recognized the room from the dream he'd had on the plane of Amanda telling him that she was pregnant.

Dr. Wright had been following him silently, giving his charge the freedom to explore and let his memories take him wherever they might lead him. He watched as Lee opened the closet doors to find a quarter of the closet filled with women's clothing.

Lee sifted through the items neatly hanging on the right side of the closet Recognizing one of the item, he pulled out the wedding photo again he find that there it perfectly matched the white suit that she was wearing in the photo. He then shifted his attention to the other side of the closet looking from the photo to the closet until he found the suit he'd been wearing that day as well. He closed the closet doors again and shifted his attention to the dresser and began rooting through drawers until he found one unmistakably filled with feminine items, lingerie to be more specific, bras, camisoles, panties and even some racier items, a black lace teddy, a long elegant satin nightgown with virtually no back to it, a shocking red babydoll. He searched his limited memory banks and tried to recall if Amanda had ever worn any of these things for him.

Lee stopped himself before he could get too far. He wasn't sure that he wanted to relive those kind of memories with the doctor watching his every move. He closed the dresser drawer, glancing at the desk beside it where he noticed a portable make-up mirror on a stand and a small cosmetic bag. He then opened the door to the bathroom and found normal toiletries that you'd expect to find for a man living alone, but also a bottle of perfume, a roll-on feminine deodorant. On the edge of the bathtub, there was a bottle of a bottle of cinnamon-apricot bubble bath and fruity-scented shampoo that he knew without a doubt he'd have never bought for himself. When he took a good long whiff of it, he thought instantly of Amanda. This was clearly hers as the other things he'd found in his bedroom must be. He put the shampoo bottle back in its home and stepped back into the bedroom.

Lee sighed, dropped to the bed and closed his eyes. At this point the doctor couldn't stay silent any longer."Is everything ok," he asked.

Lee sat up and replied, "I don't know, I am on total overload here. Everywhere I look, I see Amanda. Her things are all over the place. Her memory, her...I don't know..." he said searching for the right word. "...her essence...her spirit, maybe. It's almost like she's here with me right now.

"I think you should lie down and get some rest," Dr. Wright said. "Maybe you'll feel better in the morning."

"What about you? I know you said you weren't leaving my side until you knew I was ok, but I don't even know if I have a place for you to sleep," he said.

"I can make do on the couch. Traveling around the world for the EAO, I've slept in worse places."

"Well, let me at least see if I can find you a blanket or something," Lee said. He looked back toward the bedroom closet and shook his head. He'd just been in it and there wasn't any extra bedding there. He walked across the hall and opened the door there and found it was a large walk-in closet that contained the items he was looking for. He found an extra pillow and a blanket and handed them to the doctor.

"Thanks," Dr. Wright said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a medication bottle. "Here, in case you need them for the headaches."

"Thanks, Doc," he said as he made his way back into his bedroom while the doctor went back down the hall toward the living room. Lee closed the door, removed his shoes and socks, stripped down to his boxers and crawled under the covers. As soon as he did, his senses were assailed by more memories of Amanda, the scent of her shampoo was on the pillow he'd laid his head on, the smell of her perfume as well and there was the faint musky smell of sex still on the sheets. She must have been here very recently for these scent to still be lingering on his bedding. He closed his eyes and tried to remember. Once he closed his eyes it didn't take long to fall asleep and for his mind to begin drifting into the memories he'd been searching for.

_Lee kissed her to stop her ramble. When he released her lips, he said, "Amanda, you're babbling. What is it? What did Dr. McJohn find?" _

_"I'm pregnant," she blurted out. He smiled euphorically at hearing those two words and kissed her fiercely. "I take it that means you think it's good news too," she said nervously._

_"Good news?" He said shaking his head. "No, not good news, Amanda. This is amazing news! You and me, a baby." He rolled her over on to her back and lightly ran his fingers over her stomach before he leaned over and gently placed a kiss there as well. He then placed his hand back on her stomach as he raised his head to look into her eyes seeing her beautiful brown eyes swimming with joyous tears. At seeing this, he eyes filled with happy tears as well, just knowing that she was happy to be having his baby made him even more contented. He leaned in and kissed her softly pouring all the love and all the happiness he was feeling into his kiss. When he raised his head, she reached up and stroked his face lovingly._

_"I'm so glad you're happy about this. I was so worried about how you'd react when Dr McJohn gave me the news. We never really talked about having kids except in a distant far-off kind of way."_

_"Amanda, you never had anything to worry about. You're my wife and I love you. I have thought about what it would be like for us to have a child together since before we got married. I just never thought it was a real possibility since no one knows we're married. I feel like this is our chance to have a fresh start, stop hiding the way we feel about each other and finally live like a normal husband and wife should."_

_"I love you too," Amanda said with a smile, but that smile soon faded as cold, hard reality set it. "But, Lee, Sweetheart, you know it's not going to be that easy. Only Joe and your uncle know about our marriage."_

_"And Barney and Gus," He reminded her. _

_"Yeah, but they're 3,000 miles away," Amanda said. "They're not going to be much help to us. And we're going to need a lot of help. With my mother, the boys, The Agency. We're going to have to mend a lot of fences over the fact that we've been married two and a half years without telling any of them."_

_"It's not quite two and a half years yet, not until Sunday," He pointed out._

_"That's only two days from now and besides, since we're not going to see any of them until Monday, it will be two and half years by then. How are we going to handle this?"_

_"Simple, we just come right out and tell them the truth."_

_"Just like that?"Amanda said skeptically._

_"Yeah, just like that. You're making this way more complicated that it has to be. We'll just tell them everything. It's been long overdue. I'm so tired of having to sneak around for us to spend time together, anyway. Aren't you?"_

_"Way past tired of it," Amanda agreed. "I'm not so worried about The Agency, but mother and the boys are going to be terribly hurt that we kept this from them."_

_"They love you, Amanda and sure, they'll be hurt at first, but one thing that I've learned from you about family is that no matter how much your family may hurt you, it still doesn't change the fact that you love them."_

_"You know they love you too, right? All three of them have been dropping hints for a while that they'd like to see you as a full-time part of the family, even Jamie and he wasn't your biggest fan to start with."_

_"Then they'll eventually forgive both of us. Now, Amanda, I want you to stop worrying about this. Everything is going to be fine."_

_"Well, this is quite the refreshing change. You're usually the pessimistic one while I'm usually the optimistic one."_

_"Maybe it's just you rubbing off on me. Now, I seem to recall that we had some other plans for this weekend," he said with an impish grin as he kissed her passionately._

_When their kiss ended, she pushed him away slightly, "Not so fast, Scarecrow," she said. "You promised me a home-cooked meal tonight. One that I wasn't going to have to cook myself."_

_"So, I did. I'd better get to it. Can't let that baby of ours starve," he said with a blissful smile as he climbed out of bed and reached for his robe cinching it around his waist. _

_The memories of that weekend assailed Lee's mind, one memory flowing into another. They'd eaten a leisurely dinner together before retiring to the couch to snuggle and talk some more about their future. "It's too bad that house in Rockville that you loved so much is no longer available. It sold only two weeks or so after we looked at it in the paper. That place would have been perfect for our growing family. We're definitely going to need a bigger place before the baby's born."_

_Lee smiled at her and said, "So, you were keeping an eye on that house even after we decided to keep our marriage to ourselves."_

_"I know it may sound silly, but I still liked the idea of it. Us having a place that wasn't mine or yours, but ours. Some place where we could build a new life together without any baggage from wither of our pasts creeping in."_

_"Did you ever check into who bought it," he asked her with a mischievous grin on his face,_

_"No, I thought that would be just way too depressing to know."_

_"So, you never questioned how a house that size with that kind of price tag on it sold that fast?"_

_"Well, it was a very nice house," Amanda said. "Somebody besides us had to want it."_

_"Oh, I'm sure somebody did, but they didn't get it. I did," He said. _

_"What? Are you telling me that you bought that house even though you knew we may never need it?"_

_"No, I bought that house knowing that one day we _would_ need it," Lee corrected."I always knew there would come a day when we wouldn't be living in secret anymore and I couldn't see us anywhere but there."_

_"So, you've been making mortgage payment for over two years by yourself Secretly planning for our future," Amanda said. She didn't know whether to be deeply touched or furious with him for not telling her._

_"It's not that big a deal. I just took all the money that I used to spend on nightclubs and restaurants and put it toward the house. Besides, don't you remember right after that incident with Khai when I asked you to help me clean this place out?"_

_"Yeah, I remember," she said eying him suspiciously._

_"Well, that was about more than just cleaning the junk out of my life. I was also trying to figure out what I could sell to put toward the house. I wanted that life with you more than I have ever wanted anything in my life."_

_"So, we have a house," Amanda said thoughtfully finding that she was so touched by his effort that she couldn't be mad._

_"It's ours if you want it. It's got a great back yard and there's even an old carriage house out back that was converted into a little cottage that would be perfect for your mom is she wanted to move with us."_

_"You just thought of everything, didn't you? What if we were never able to come clean?"_

_"I never really thought that we wouldn't. I just knew one day that we'd be able to live out in the open together. It's all I've dreamed about since the day I asked you to marry me. So, do you want the house. I mean, if you don't, we could always sell it," he said self-consciously._

_"No, I want it and I want it with you," she said as she kissed him before rising from the couch, taking his hand in hers and leading him back to the bedroom._

Amanda awoke with a smile on her face for the first time in days knowing that her husband was still alive and that even though they may have a rough road ahead of them, she knew there was nothing they couldn't survive as long as they were together. She bounced out of bed ready to finally be reunited with him once and for all.


	12. Chapter 12

Amanda bounced into the kitchen dressed for work with a spring in her step and greeted her mother with a kiss. "Good morning, Mother," she said cheerfully all set to go to the office and find out where her husband was.

"Well. you're certainly chipper this morning," she said. "I'm surprised."

"I have every reason to be chipper this morning, Mother," Amanda said. "I was so tired last night that I didn't get a chance to tell you. That body that they found with Lee's badge. It wasn't him, after all, which means he's still alive."

"Oh, thank God," Dotty said hugging her daughter tightly. "So, Lee's still alive. But wait a minute, if he's still alive then why hasn't he contacted you?"

"We think he has amnesia. As far as we can tell, he was under the care of a doctor, a neurologist with the EAO while he was in Germany and they arrived here last night. Now, all I have to do is call EAO and find out more about this doctor and where he might have taken Lee."

"EAO? Oh, God," Dotty said reflecting back on Joe's frantic phone call of the night before.

"What is it, Mother?"

"This doctor, do you think he knows Joe by any chance?" she asked sheepishly hoping that she hadn't ruined her daughter's chance at being reunited with her husband.

"I don't know," Amanda said wondering what her mother was getting at. "I suppose it's possible. Why do you ask?"

"Joe called here last night absolutely insistent on speaking with you. He said something had happened at the office. I figured he knew you were back and just wanted to bring the boys home. I hung up on him thinking it was just his normal bad habit of making his job being more important than his children, but what if it wasn't?"

"I'll call him and find out," Amanda said as she picked up the phone. "Why is there no dial tone?"

"Oh, when Joe called, I was so mad at him when I thought he was just going to dump the boys on you after all you've been through that I took the phone off the hook in my bedroom." The doorbell rang as she finished these words. "I'll go hang it back up," Dotty said as she rushed up the stairs.

"I guess I'll go get the door then," Amanda said as she hurried to the front door and found her ex-husband standing on the other side of it. "Joe, I was just getting ready to call you. Mother told me you called last night. Come on in."

"Did she tell you it was urgent?" he said as he stepped into the house following her across the staircase landing into the den.

"No, she didn't. What's going on?" Amanda said.

"You might want to sit down," Joe said. Amanda sat on the edge of the couch as she waited expectantly for whatever Joe had to tell her just as Dotty descended the stairs behind Joe.

"Joe, you're here," Dotty said.

"Yeah, " he said before turning his attention back to Amanda. He placed his hands comfortingly on her shoulders."Now, what I have to tell you may come as a shock to you after all you endured the past few days, but I wanted you to know as soon as possible. Lee's not dead."

"I know that," Amanda said.

"You know?" he said in surprise dropping his hands to his sides.

"Yes, we figured it out last night when we brought the body back to the states. The dead man's dental records match another agent who was there in West Germany. We don't have all the details yet, but we know he was the one who called Lee on Monday afternoon and that Lee was working with him on something."

"What kind of something?"Joe inquired.

"Now, come on, Joe. you should know by now that I can't answer a question like that," she reminded him.

"Right," he said. "National security."

"Are you telling me that Joe had known all this time what you really do for a living?" Dotty asked a little affronted that she, Amanda's own mother had been out of the loop, but her ex-husband, a man who had basically abandoned her and their children wasn't.

"Not by choice, Dotty," Joe said. "Believe when I say I'd be just as happy not to know, but she and Lee were the ones who investigated the trouble I was in when I first came back from Estoccia.

"How did you know that Lee's still alive?" Amanda asked him to steer the conversation back on topic.

"A doctor with EAO who specializes in head and brain injury brought him to see me last night. He somehow figured out that I knew him or that we both knew you. I don't really know all the details, but Amanda, there's something else you should know. Lee's suffering from some kind of amnesia due to a severe head injury. He doesn't fully remember you."

"I know that too, Joe. So, far you haven't told my anything that I didn't already figure out in my investigation. The only thing I haven't been able to figure out is where he is."

"Oh," Joe said looking a bit deflated. He'd thought the information he'd come with would have been more of a shock to her.

"Do you know where they went after they left your office?"

"Yeah, Lee wanted to go home and the doctor thought it would help his memory to be in a familiar place so I gave them his address."

"You mean, all this time, he's just been at his apartment?"Dotty said incredulously.

"No, not all this time. Just since sometime around ten last night."

"I'm going over there," Amanda said.

"You may want to call first to make sure he's still there. Dr. Wright said that he still needed medical treatment so he may have taken him to a hospital by now."

Amanda glanced at her watch. "It's a little early for that, but I suppose it couldn't hurt. How about this, you call and I'll go over there and if he's not there, I'll follow up with you. I'm not going to take a chance of missing him again." Before Joe could say another word, Amanda was out the door.

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Lee awoke in the morning feeling more peaceful than he had since before the explosion. The doctor had been right. Being in his own home had enhanced his memory retrieval. He pulled himself out of bed getting dressed quickly. He thought back to the barrage of memories that had flooded his mind while he'd slept and glanced at the calendar on the wall. He recalled with vivid clarity the conversation he and Amanda had had about their future. Based on the date of the wedding photo two and a half years from that date would have been August 13th.

Lee poked his head into the living room as saw that his doctor was already up and moving around. "Hey, Doc," He said. "What's the date today. With everything that's happened, I've kind of lost track of time."

"August 16th," the doctor answered.

"Thanks," Lee said as he went back into the bedroom to peruse the calendar and figured out that the news that he was going to be a father had just been delivered to him this past Friday. He smiled now knowing without a doubt that he and Amanda were indeed married and that she was carrying his child. He walked back into the living room with a grin.

"You're certainly looking happier today," Dr. Wright said.

"I am," he said. "Thanks for agreeing to let me come home. I think it did a world of good."

"You've recovered your memories?"

"Well, not all of them. There's still a lot that's fuzzy, but I do know one thing for sure. Amanda is definitely my wife. I have to go see her," Lee said as he started for the hallway to retrieve his keys.

"Not so fast, Mr. Stetson," he said glad that he finally had a name to call his patient.

"Look, Doc, that King guy gave me her address and he told me that she thinks I'm dead. I have to let her know that I'm not."

"I understand that, but we need to check you out first and get your bandages changed. You've been wearing those same ones for a full day now. Once we do that, if you want me to drive you over there, I gladly will."

"Oh, come on, Doc."

"No, I insist. How did you expect to get over there without me, anyway? Arlington's way too far to walk from here and you don't even know what kind of car you drive or even if you have one."

"I have a car. There are car keys on that ring you gave me last night," Lee pointed out.

"Great," the doctor said sarcastically. "Do you know what they go to?"

"A Chevy," he said remembering the Chevrolet logo on them.

"A Chevy? OK, what model?" Dr. Wright said with a grin.

"Ok, You got me. I don't know," Lee said in resignation as he flopped down on the couch. "All right, just make it quick." The doctor picked up his medical bag but before he could begin work, the phone rang. "Hello?"Lee said as he answered it.

"Lee? Hi, it's Joe King. Amanda asked me to call you and make sure you're home and that you stay put. She's on her way to see you, so don't go anywhere."

"She's on her way here?" he said excitedly.

"Yeah, I finally got in touch with her to let her know where you were and she insisted on seeing you right away."

"Good, I need to see her too. Maybe she can help me fill in the missing pieces of my life," he said though he now understood at least part of the reason that Joe was less than forthcoming the night before. He'd been helping them keep their marriage a secret thought he still couldn't quite figure out why it was a secret. It didn't really matter. What was important is that they had decided not to keep it a secret anymore. "Mr. King, thanks...for everything" Lee said as he hung up the phone.

"Your wife's on her way here?" Lee nodded. "That's good. Now, let's get you presentable for her," Dr. Wright said as he began to pull the old bandages off. "Well, this is looking a little better. It still needs cleaned again though." he reached into his back pulling out a bottle of antiseptic.

Lee winced as the doctor began daubing his wounds with the antiseptic. "Watch it, Doc," Lee said raising his hands up defensively to cover his head.

Dr. Wright lowered Lee's hands and said, "I know it stings, but we have to keep it clean to prevent infection." He continued what he'd started despite Lee's protests until he was satisfied with the results.

"Are you done?" Lee growled impatiently.

"Not yet," Dr. Wright said as he put the antiseptic away then pulled out an ophthalmoscope using it to examine Lee's eyes one at a time causing Lee to wince again at the brightness of it. "Well, your pupil dilation is back to normal. That's a good sign that your concussion is healing. How are the headaches? Did you have to take one of those pain pills I gave you at all last night?"

"No, the headache's not that bad. It comes and goes instead of being constant."

"Well, that's a good sign too, although we should really get you into a lab for an MRI to be safe, make sure that the swelling of your brain has gone down and that there aren't any more complications. You're on the road to recovery, but you've still got a long way to go."

"No, I told you last night I don't want to go back to a hospital," Lee said impatiently.

"Well, maybe when your wife gets here, she'll be able to talk you into going. I'd really feel better about your recovery if I could run some more tests."

"I said no, Doc! No tests! I hate hospitals and to tell you the truth, I'm not too fond of doctors," He said not really knowing how he knew that about himself just knowing it was a fact just like being married to Amanda was a fact.

"That's nothing new," Amanda said from the doorway. At hearing Amanda's voice, Lee flew up from the couch as they ran to embrace each other. "Oh, Lee, oh, Sweetheart, I'm so happy to see you! I've been so worried about you," she said as she rained kisses on his face and his neck between words. "Let me look at you." She pulled back from him for a moment just wanting to reassure herself that he was really there. She placed one hand on each side of his face. "You're hurt," she said as she brushed her fingers lightly across the gash in his head that the doctor hadn't yet re-bandaged.

"I'm fine, Amanda," he said shrugging her hand away from his wound. "Doc says I'm healing just fine. I'm even better now that you're here," he said as he took her hands in his and kissed them before dropping them.

"You remember me?" she said her voice filled with hope.

"You're all I've dreamed about since whatever happened to me happened. The details are still a little blurry up here," he said pointing to his head. "But I do remember this," He pulled her to him, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately.


	13. Chapter 13

Author's note: I can't believe the amount of positive feedback I've received on this story for one that has taken me 15 years to complete. I want to thank everyone for that. Now that the long-awaited reunion between our heroes has happened, it's time for the additional conflict you all knew had to happen since the reason for Lee's trip to West Germany has still not been resolved.

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Francine walked into Billy's office in a panic file in hand. "We've got trouble," She said.

"What's going on?" Billy said.

"Well, I did as you asked and cross-referenced the name Helfried Alfons with Lee's stint in West Germany in '81 when he helped Russell set up that task force and catch this, both Lee and Russell were responsible for Alfons spending the next five years being tortured in the Gulag. He's been out for three years and from what my research is telling me has been spearheading the terror that's been spreading across West Germany for the past two month."

"You're thinking this was some kind of revenge scenario? Of course, that's why they'd set two bombs, to make sure that he got both of them."

"But he has to know that at least one of them is alive since the bomb tech's report says that one of the bombs was set off by remote indicating someone was watching. If he stuck around long enough to watch the rescue crews retrieving them..."

"...Then he'd know Lee was still alive. In fact, he'd have known Lee was still alive before we did."

"That's not the worst of it," Francine said as she pulled a photo out of her file. "This is a surveillance photo from Dulles yesterday afternoon. The guy here exiting the terminal is Alfons. The guys flanking him are well-known members of his hit squad. He arrived in DC 6 hours before you and Amanda."

"And Lee," Billy said. "We have got to find him and warn him. If he's out there somewhere without his memories, he'll be a sitting duck."

"I've been working on that too. I contacted EAO and found out that the doctor who took him out of the hospital had a facility all set up for Lee to keep him under observation due to a severe head injury, but he never showed up to use it after they left the airport last night. I was able to find out that he rented a car at the airport and I've already got an APB out on it. I don't know where else to go from here."

"Have you talked to Amanda?'

"Not since you drove her home last night," Francine replied. "I'm actually surprised she's not here. She was the one who insisted that she be an active part of this investigation until you gave in."

"A grave violation of Agency policy," Dr. Smyth said as he entered the room startling Francine.

"You know, you should wear a bell around your neck or something," Francine said.

"And give up the element of surprise," Smyth said with a grin as he took a drag from his cigarette. "I think not, Desmond. So, I hear that Scarecrow is indeed without a brain these days and that he hasn't yet gotten a new one from the wizard."

"We're working on tracking down this particular "wizard', Billy said.

"In this case, I think Glinda, the good witch may be of more help to him," Smyth said.

"If you're talking about Amanda," Billy said getting irritated with Dr. Smyth's way of playing word games. "Francine and I were just discussing our next move on that front."

"Well, I know what your next move won't be," Smyth said dropping a file folder on Billy's desk in front of him.

"What's this?"

"The results of Mrs. King's latest Agency physical. Seen it yet?"

"No," Billy said.

"I hope not, for your sake," Smyth said. "This just hit my desk on Tuesday morning just before I heard of Scarecrow's untimely demise."

"How did you get this before me?"

"There are some lab results that create an instant red flag to be sent to me first, for example, the pregnancy of an active field agent."

"Pregnancy?"Francine said. "Are you saying that Amanda's pregnant?"

"Score one for the wicked witch of the east," Smyth said at which Francine scowled. "And it doesn't take a wizard to figure out who the father is. So, Melrose, that's two violations of field operations policy. Not requiring a field agent to take the required two weeks after the death of a partner and allowing a pregnant agent on field duty."

"Ok, First of all, Lee is not dead as you well know and second of all, I didn't know about Amanda's pregnancy until we were on the plane home last night."

"Ok, I'll grant that you may not have known about Mrs. King's impending motherhood, but I know for a fact that you were unaware that Scarecrow was still alive with any certainty until last night, yet you still allowed her to accompany you to the Berlin Wall."

"What was I supposed to do? You weren't there when we gave her the news. She made it very clear that she was going to investigate this with or without the backing of The Agency. What would have happened then? We might have two missing agents instead of just one."

"I'm well aware of why you made your decision. We all know how determined Mrs. King is. That what makes her so good at her job. That's why I've opted not to officially reprimand you for your actions. Relax, Billy. This is still your trip down the yellow brick road, just watch out for the poisoned poppies. Ciao," He said as he made his exit.

"I better call Amanda," Billy said as he picked up the phone while Francine still stood there pondering the news that Lee was going to be a father. "Hello, Mrs. West, Billy Melrose...Yes, Mrs West... It's wonderful that Lee's was not the body we found...Yes, it is very sad for Agent Russell' family," Billy said listening patiently Dotty West's rambling. "What, Lee's apartment...Joe spoke to him...Amanda's there now... Thank you, Mrs. West." he hung up the phone abruptly before she could get started on another tirade. "Lee and Amanda are at his place. Let's go," he said as he and Francine made their way out the door.

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Amanda responded instantly to her husband's kisses. Even though it had only been a few days since they'd seen each other, the stress and worry of those few days had made it feel like years. She loved just having his arms around her again. They kissed until they were both breathless and had to part to catch their breath."I missed you so much," she said.

"I missed you too. All I've thought about is getting back to you and getting back all my memories back of you. Ask the Doc here," Lee said gesturing to the couch, but the doctor wasn't there anymore. "Doc?" he called.

Dr. Wright emerged from the kitchen with a cup of coffee. "I'm still here. I was just trying to give you your privacy," he said.

"Listen, you should probably listen to your doctor and get those tests done," Amanda said as she toyed with the hair at the nape of his neck. "You have no idea how worried I've been."

"I think I have an idea," he said as he recalled his nightmare. "I have a question I have to know the answer to. Were you shot?"

"Yeah, two years ago. You've seen the scar many times, right here," she said indicating the area just to the left of her left breast. "One of the things you can't remember?"

"I sort of remembered. I was just treated as a nightmare," Lee said.

"In a way, that makes sense," Amanda said. Once I recovered, that's how you described it. You told me that watching me fight for my life was like a living nightmare to you. Kind of like what the past few days have been like for me."

"Maybe I should go get some breakfast and let the two of you talk alone," Dr Wright said feeling like he was intruding on what should be private time between a husband and wife.

"You don't have to leave," Amanda said. "I want you to know how grateful I am that you brought my husband back to me."

"Well, he's not fully back yet. He's still got some healing to do and as I'm sure that you can tell by now, he hasn't recovered all of his memories yet."

"No, but he will. I'm sure of that," Amanda said.

Dr. Wright looked at her in amazement. He'd seen a lot of cases like Lee Stetson's and in almost every case, a wife would become hysterical upon learning her husband didn't remember their life together, but not this woman. She almost seemed to understand and accept it. She seemed just grateful to have him back alive no matter what shape he was in. "Perhaps you can fill in some of the gaps in his memory. I should really give you some time alone to do that."

"Thanks, Doc," Lee said. Dr. Wright nodded as he made his exit. Lee clasped Amanda's hand in his and led her to the couch where he had so many memories of them sitting and cuddling together. Once he sat down, she immediately draped her legs across his wrapping her arms around his neck. "So, I figured out that we're married and that we kept it a secret, but what I can't figure out is why."

"How much do you remember about what we do for a living?"

"Not much of anything. I remember us spending a lot of time together in an office. A film library?" He questioned.

"Oh, boy," she said. She had her work cut out for her.

"What? Did I get that wrong?"

"No, you didn't. The door to our office is marked Film Library, but it's not really a film library. We work for a company called International Federal Film, but it's not really a film company like the world thinks it is."

"Then what is it?" Amanda remained silent for a moment, not sure how to tell him the truth. She understood now how difficult it must have been for him a few years ago when she'd had amnesia. "Amanda, please, I have to know about my life. Does this have anything to do with Dr. Wright saying that he'd heard that I might be a spy?"

"Actually we don't use the word spy. In fact you hate that word. You've always preferred intelligence operative while I lean more toward federal agent."

"So, it's true. We're spies," Lee said.

"Yes, Sweetheart, it's true. We're partners, in fact. That's the reason that we chose to keep our marriage a secret to start with because of the danger that it might put our family in, but that all changed a few days ago."

"When you found out that you're pregnant, we decided to come clean," he said acknowledging that he remembered the news she'd given him a few days ago. When she looked at him in surprise, he said, "I'm not a completely blank slate and more and more pieces keep coming back to me." He slid his hand between them and lightly stroked her stomach.

Amanda kissed him softly reveling in being close to him after days of not knowing whether he was dead or alive. What has started as just a tender acknowledgment of their renewed togetherness became heated very quickly now that they were alone. Lee pulled her closer to him deepening their kiss probing her mouth with his tongue feeling at home in her arms for the first time since his accident. He lowered her to her back on the couch as they continued kissing. "Lee," she said breathlessly. "Let's take this to the bedroom."

"Yeah," He said as he stood offering her his hand to help her up and they walked hand in hand to the bedroom, sharing little kisses along the way. They had just made it into the bedroom when a loud crash from the living room startled them both.

"Lee, stay here," Amanda said as she removed her revolver from its holster and cautiously crept into the hallway. She ducked quickly as a bullet went whizzing over her head. She crawled back into the bedroom as more bullets pelted the wall of the hallway. She closed the door and locked it behind her. From what she could tell of her brief foray into the hallway, there were at least three shooters. Too many for her to take on by herself in such close quarters. They needed help, but she knew there wasn't time to call The Agency. Instead she dialed 911 and laid the phone down hoping the emergency operator would hear the gunfire and send help. She then urged Lee to the other side of the room as bullets hammered into the bedroom door. They crouched on the far side of the bed by the windows.

"Shouldn't we hide or something? The bathroom, the closet, something?" Lee said.

"No," Amanda answered looking at him oddly hoping that his sixteen years of experience would kick in now that they were under attack. "That would be the worst thing we could do. We'd be trapped. At least on this side of the room, we could go out the window and down the fire escape if we needed to. In fact, that's not a bad idea for you. Without your memories, you're not going to be able to fight back."

"There's got to be something that I can do," Lee said. "You said we're partners, right? Let me be your partner."

Amanda took a deep breath and reached into the bottom night stand drawer to where she knew he kept an extra pistol. She checked the clip to make sure it was fully loaded. She hoped she was doing the right thing and that his natural survival instincts would kick in. "Ok, Partner," she said as she handed him the 9mm pistol just as their assailants shot the lock off the bedroom door.

'


	14. Chapter 14

Author's note: Well, this is it, Folks, the final chapter of a story begun in 1999. I want to once again express all of my deep appreciation for everyone's encouragement and for faithfully reading and of course reviewing. The amazing amount of positive feedback has really kept me going the last few days while I put the ending I'd always had planned to paper. The final scene's a bit cheesy, but it's how I always envisioned it. I hope it was worth the wait.

Lanie Sullivan

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When Helfried Alfons entered the room gun barrel first, Lee had an instant flash of West Germany and chasing him down with Agent Gerald Russell by his side in 1981. He recalled vividly that he'd personally put a slug in the guy's left shoulder before taking him down entirely. This flash led to other flashes, going undercover as a waiter, the train station, grabbing Amanda and thrusting a package in her hands and pleading for her help, going undercover pretending to be married, the sinking feeling of being in the hospital, rescuing Amanda when she'd been drugged and threatening the guy who'd done it with time in a wheelchair while he carried her out of there, making an unauthorized trade for her when she'd been mistaken for him.

His thoughts whirled as image after image crossed his mind, the cruise ship wedding and the kiss they'd shared, the one he hadn't wanted to end, pretending she was his girlfriend to the Colonel and wishing it were true, asking Amanda out for the first time to the opera under the guise of teaching her how to make casual contact with a subject, their "date" that night, all the near-misses every time he tried to kiss her when they were dating, the first time he really did kiss her. Saying "I love you" for the first time, buying her an engagement ring and how he carried it around with him in his pocket for a month waiting for the perfect opportunity to give it to her, the day he finally put that ring on her finger in the office they shared, making love to her for the first time, planning their elopement, saying "I do", watching her fight for every breath in the hospital.

"Come on, Scarecrow!"Alfons said breaking into Lee's trip down memory lane. "I know you're here. It's been eight years. Let's not play this game any longer!"

"No," Lee said from his cover behind the bed. "You're right, Alfons. The time for games is long over!" Amanda looked at him with a questioning gaze. He smiled, reached to squeeze her hand briefly and nodded to her holding up one finger to indicate they needed to wait for the right moment. They both listened for the location and number of footsteps in the room and when they were sure the timing was right both rose firing straight ahead before ducking back down.

Amanda smiled at each other as they heard two separate cries of pain knowing they'd at least both made contact as bullets flew over their heads piercing the window panes behind them. "Scarecrow, come on! You can do better than that. I've got the scar to prove it," Alfons mocked indicating that they'd missed him as he fired again and again. Amanda made her move rising and pointing her gun squarely at Alfons.

"Amanda, no!" Lee cried as he rose from his crouch.

"So, you're the one who tried to hill my husband," she said icily as she walked around to the end of the bed menacingly. "I should kill _you _for that. You nearly destroyed my family."

"You husband," Alfons said with a chuckle as he leveled his gun at her. "Well, then maybe my revenge is best served by killing you instead and making Scarecrow watch."

"Try it," Amanda said. "I don't know how you're going to accomplish that with an empty gun. I know you've used all six shots and haven't had time to reload, whereas I've still got five left. Do you think I should use them all on you? I'd say you've earned with what you put our family through this week."

Lee smiled at Amanda and said, "I couldn't agree more, Sweetheart. I'd say let him have all five of them."

Alfons looked at the two of them out-gunning him and scrambled for his fallen comrade's gun but caught a bullet in the arm from Lee's pistol before he could, groaning in pain. He dropped to his knees and scrambled for the gun he'd been reaching for while Amanda completed her path around the bed aiming her gun at the back of his head. "Don't be stupid," she said cocking her weapon behind him.

Alfons raised his hand in surrender as he stood. He knew that he'd never make it out of there alive, not with Amanda's revolver trained at the back of his head and Lee's to his left. "Well, Scarecrow, it seems you've finally got a partner equal to your skill level, unlike poor Agent Russell. All it took was uncovering the right bit of dirt and his most trusted contact fed him false information that would be given the opportunity to put an end to Red Dawn for good. Of course, to lure you right where I wanted you I gave his contact the instructions that it would only be passed on to you. Russell fell right into my trap and played you like a fiddle. It's a pity my bomb didn't kill both of you like it was intended to."

"What can I say? I'm a survivor. I've got a lot in my life worth living for. Now, come on," Lee said with a nod of his head toward the ruined bedroom door.

Alfons making one last ditch effort, grabbed the lamp on the nightstand and flung in behind him at Amanda before tearing out the door.

"Freeze!" They heard Francine shout from the living room. Lee and Amanda looked at each other and grinned.

Amanda holstered her gun while she bent to check on the two downed men, Lee still keeping his gun pointed that direction just in case. "They're both still alive," she said.

"Lee! Amanda!" Billy called.

"In here!" Lee called back as he heard sirens outside on the street below.

Billy entered the room surveying the scene in front of him. "Francine's got Alfons cuffed and on his way out of here. Are you two ok?"

Lee holstered his gun as he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around his wife. "Yeah, we're great. What took you so long," he teased.

"Now, Sir, about that two weeks off..." Amanda said with a smile.

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Billy had indeed agreed to the two weeks off for not only Amanda, but for Lee as well explaining to Dr. Smyth that he needed time to fully recuperate from his head injury and that Amanda needed to recover from the emotional trauma she'd suffered. Dr. Smyth's only argument was that once they returned to work, Amanda be restricted to light duty due to her pregnancy, but felt there was no reason to separate the partners since they had proved by two and half years of marriage that they could still work together professionally in spite of their personal relationship.

Their time off had had to wait a few more days while they wrote up their reports on the attack at the apartment and debriefed the men behind it. The information they'd gathered from Alfons' two henchmen proved invaluable to the task force once led by Agent Russell. Alfons himself refused to budge and was quickly extradited to face the music for his crimes against West Germany. Once all of that was done, they were free of The Agency for two full weeks.

Lee and Amanda used the time to move into the house in Rockville just in time to get the boys registered in their new school district. Phillip and Jamie having already unpacked and organized their rooms had set out to explore their new neighborhood in hopes of meeting their new classmates before school started in September.

"Well, that's the last of it." Lee finished hanging an 8x10 of their wedding picture on the wall with the other family photos in their new living room. He smiled and said, "That picture kept me going more times than I can count when I didn't know who I was."

"Looks perfect," Amanda said as she slipped her arm around her husband's waist.

'You might not want to get too close," Lee said. "Look at me, I'm a mess."

"Me too," she said as she recalled the last time they'd "moved in" together and her comment that she looked messy while he still looked good. "I think we should do something about that." She took his hand to lead him up the stairs.

"You go on. I'll be up in just a minute," Lee said.

"Ok," she said as she trotted up the stairs toward the master bedroom and began running water in the oversized tub pouring in her favorite bubble bath. She had just finished undressing when Lee entered the room with a bottle and two glasses in hand.

"To celebrate the start of our new life together," Lee said as he filled the glasses.

"Lee, that's really very sweet, but I can't drink. The baby," Amanda said.

"Relax, Amanda, it's sparkling grape juice," he said as he handed her glass to her setting his own down while he undressed. Amanda set her glass down on the side of the tub as she reached to turn off the tap. She was startled slightly by her husband grabbing her from behind nuzzling her neck and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"God, don't do that," she said with a giggle.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Lee said with a shake of his head. "A trained agent with six years of experience and you still jump every time," he teased as he released her long enough to pick up his glass and step into the tub where she soon joined him sitting down in front of him and leaning against the strong wall of his chest.

"It feels so good to relax," Amanda said in contentment.

"Yeah, it does," he said with a sigh as the hot water soothed his tired muscles. He sipped at his drink as he wrapped his other arm around her waist lightly stroking her stomach which he knew would soon show the evidence of their burgeoning family. "You know I always teased your mother about her nightly bubble bath, but I think maybe she was onto something."

Amanda giggled and said, "Imagine the mighty Scarecrow enjoying something as simple and mundane as a bubble bath."

"You ever tell anyone and I'll deny it," he said as he nuzzled her neck.

"I won't say a word. I _do _keep secrets for a living," she reminded him playfully.

Lee laughed, removed his hand from her stomach and linked his left hand with hers gazing at the wedding bands that they both now proudly displayed. "Well, this is one secret I'm glad we're not keeping anymore," he said.

"Me too," Amanda said. "It's funny, I was always terrified that the boys would be angry that we'd lied to them for so long, but they both seem to have just accepted it without question."

"I never told you this, but they've both been dropping hints for over a year that they wanted me to be their stepdad. I think that has a lot to do with their acceptance. And it doesn't hurt that they've both tickled pink about having their own rooms and not having to share anymore. Your mother, on the other hand, is going to be a challenge."

"No, she'll come around. She's happy for us. She just needs some time to get over the hurt. I think knowing that she's got a new grandchild on the way will help a long way toward that," Amanda said. "I think more than anything, she was shocked by the way she heard the news. It's funny. I tried to confess and tell her everything and she didn't believe me until Billy and Francine showed up to tell me you were dead."

"We may not have gotten to break the news the way we wanted to, but what else is new? How often do things ever go the way we plan?"

"True," she said sipping her drink. "Just do me a favor. Next time you get a call from an old teammate, ignore it."

"You know that's not in my nature," Lee said.

"Ok, so maybe don't ignore it, but at least give someone a tip about what you're doing so I don't ever have to go through what I just did again."

"You got it," Lee said. "Now, no more shop talk. We're on vacation for another three days and I intend to enjoy it to the fullest."

"Oh yeah?" she said as she turned to look at him with a seductive smile. "And just what kind of enjoyment did you have in mind?"

"Well, for starters since we've pretty much lived the "for worse" part of our marriage vows, I thought it's time we started concentrating on the "for better" part," he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"I like the sound of that," Amanda said as she kissed him lightly. "And what was it that came after that?"

"For richer or poorer," Lee said. "Which we've got covered with the two salary-hike that goes along with an agent marrying another agent."

"Check, for richer or poorer, done," Amanda said with a laugh. "Then there was what, in sickness and in health."

"I think we've more than lived that to the fullest," Lee said.

"Check," Amanda said. "Then there was the last bit, my favorite part actually."

"For all the days of our lives," they said in unison clinking their glasses together both sipping at their drinks before sinking into each other's arms to truly celebrate the beginning of their life together.


End file.
